Ghosts of Years Past
by XxMr.Mister1991xX
Summary: Tai is running out of time to be with Sora, but he won't do anything since she's with Matt. T.K. wishes he could be Kari's boyfriend, but is worried about what might happen. To top it off, Gennai has something to tell the team. Taiora. Takari. Complete!
1. Catching up

Summary: It's been a year since Diaboromon was defeated the second time. Tai feels sad because he knows he's losing Sora to Matt. T.K. wants to be more than friends with Kari, but doesn't want to ruin their friendship. To top it all off, Gennai has something to tell the group.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of it's characters.

A crowd of happy teens raced toward the door of the Odaiba Middle School, glad that the day of torture was finally over. Among the stampede was a brunette with crimson eyes, Hikari Kamiya. She exited the school with the other students. But instead of racing home with the others, she stayed behind. She was waiting for him to show up. Takeru Takaishi. Ever since the defeat of Diaboromon a little over a year ago, Kari and T.K. had started a trend of walking home together. Much to Davis' dismay. The huge group passed by, and Kari noticed that T.K. wasn't with them.

_Must have been held up,_ Kari thought.

"Hey, Kari!" Davis walked up and forced Kari to hug him.

"Hey..." Kari said, gasping for breath.

"Where's T.S.?" Davis asked.

"Davis, for the last time, it's _T.K._!" Kari scolded as she managed to get away from Davis.

"T.R., T.M., whatever. Where is he?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure he'll be along in a minute," Kari answered.

"You know, I could always --" Davis started.

"Thanks, but no thanks, Davis. I'll just wait," Kari cut him off mid-sentence.

"Fine, suit yourself. See you tomorrow," Davis said.

Daivs left Kari, much to her pleasure, and she waited for T.K. to show up. So, she waited. And waited. And, well, waited some more.

"He never takes this long," Kari said to nobody in particular.

It was now 3:30. T.K. had made her wait half an hour. Wondering what was taking so long, she pulled out her cell phone and selected T.K.'s name from her lengthy contacts list. '_Hey, this is Takeru. I can't talk right now, please leave a message,_'

"Straight to voice mail? That's strange," Kari whispered to herself.

She didn't give up, however. She pulled out her D-terminal and emailed T.K.

T.K. was sitting silently up against the trunk of a tree in a forest the Digital World. He was studying his home work. T.K. had recently decided to start working and studying harder and bring his grades up. He started doing his home work in the Digital World because it was far too distracting back home.

"33 minus negative seven, divided by two, plus 15, plus negative 11... Man, that's a long problem!" T.K. said rubbing his temples.

Suddenly he heard his D-terminal go off. _Great, now what?_ he thought.

He picked up the D-terminal and found somebody had sent him an email.

'_T.K., where r u? ur supposed to walk me home!_

_- Kari_'

T.K. quickly got up from his spot on the ground. "Damn! Got carried away," T.K. muttered.

He quickly gathered up all his books, all the while feeling like he was being watched. Suddenly, he heard some of the brush behind him start shuffle.

"Huh... Somebody there?" T.K. called, looking for whatever was moving.

The brush continued to shuffle. T.K. psyched himself up for what was in there. Finally, something emerged from the brush. A Yokomon came bouncing out, followed shortly after by a Tanemon. They were playing tag.

T.K. wiped his brow. "Phew. That had me worried for a minute."

T.K. got his D-3 out of his pocket and and activated the T.V. which served as a portal between the Digital World and Earth. Little did T.K. know somebody had been watching him. The figure, hidden by the shadows, dawned a large, evil grin.

Kari was still waiting by the entrance of the school. _He's not coming. I guess I'll just go by myself. _she thought to her self.

She was about to set off for home all alone when she heard T.K.'s familiar voice.

"Kari, wait up!" Kari turned to see her blonde-haired friend running toward her.

"There you are. I was beginning to think you forgot," Kari said, trying to act hurt.

"Oh, Kari. I'm disappointed. How could you ever think I would forget to walk you home?" T.K. answered, trying just as hard to act hurt.

They both laughed at the way they were trying to make each other feel sorry.

"What held you up?" Kari asked as they started walking.

"Hmm? Oh. I decided to step up my work ethic because I'm tired of my sloppy grades. I went to the Digital World to study and do my home work because there's to many things here to distract me," T.K. answered. Kari giggled at this.

Distractions? Like what?" Kari asked. T.K. scratched the back of his head.

"You know. There's stuff like T.V., and the computer. That kinda stuff," T.K. answered. _Not to mention the thought of you,_ T.K. though.

Kari's only reply was a small laugh. They walked on in silence for a moment.

"So... how was your day?" T.K. asked.

"You know, the usual," Kari replied.

"That bad, eh?" T.K. teased. He knew Kari was a straight-a student.

"Whateva!" Kari crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip.

"C'mon, you know I didn't mean anything!" said T.K. Kari laughed as they reached the building.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning," Kari said.

"Oh, but I'm not done walking you home yet," T.K. replied. Kari shot a surprised look at T.K. "I don't stop until you're _all_ the way home."

Kari stood there dumbstruck for a moment thinking of what to say. "So... I get the 'special' escort today, huh?" she finally said.

"I am a gentleman, after all," T.K. said, dawning a big smirk.

They both laughed and walked inside to the elevator. Kari pressed the button for her floor, then noticed the song that was playing. It was _Brave Heart_.

"I remember that song. It was real big when we went on our first adventure in the Digital World," T.K. said.

Kari stood there stood there remembering all the adventures they had in the Digital World when they were eight.

"Yeah. Good times. Well, except for all the near-death experiences," Kari said. They both chuckled.

The rest of the ride was silent until the elevator dinged to indicate they had reached their destination. They both stepped out and walked quietly down the concourse to Kari's apartment.

"Let's try this again," Kari said stopping by the door. "Bye, T.K.,"

T.K. took Kari's left hand and kissed it. "Goodbye, princess of light,"

Kari just stared at T.K. and all T.K. could do was blush. Kari fluttered with the door knob, still shocked at the way T.K. acted, and T.K. turned to go back to the elevator, when Kari asked him something.

"Umm, T.K.?" She started.

"Yeah?" T.K. said, looking over his shoulder, trying to hide hide his huge blush.

"I was thinking, I haven't gone to the Digital World since before the world tour. I was wondering, would you like to go with me Saturday? It would be nice to see Gatomon again," Kari asked.

"I would love to, Kari," came T.K.'s reply.

"Great. I'll see you Saturday, then," said Kari. With that, she went inside.

T.K. walked back to the elevator and got inside it just in time to hear the end of _Brave Heart. _He hit the button for the ground floor.

_Man, whoever ends up with her is going to be one lucky-ass son-of-a-bitch. I just hope that lucky-ass son-of-a-bitch is me. Oh, c'mon, Takeru, you know you and Kari would never work. But, she did as _me_ to go with her to the Digital World. Does she feel the same way? No, I'm just day dreaming,_ he thought.

The elevator reached the ground floor, and T.K. exited the building and started for off for his apartment. He was still thinking about Kari when his phone rang. It was his mother, Nancy.

"Hey, mom," He said.

_'T.K., where are you? What's taking you so long to get home?'_ T.K. could hear slight worry in his mother's voice.

"I, uh... had to stay a little longer than usual and study. Then I walked Kari home. I'm on the way now," He answered.

_'Oh, okay. See you in a few minutes. Love you, honey. Bye,'_ said Nancy.

T.K. put his phone back up and continued on his way home, when he heard a familiar voice.

"Well, if it isn't Takeru. Long time no see," T.K. turned to see Tai walking up to him.

"Hey, Tai. Haven't seen you in a long time. How's it goin'?" T.K. asked as they slapped fists.

"Great. My math is finally starting to make since to me now. How 'bout you?" Tai responded.

"Not to bad, I guess. Well, I gotta get home. Mom'll have a stroke if I don't get back soon," said T.K.

"Believe me, I know what you mean. See ya," Tai said. They both went their separate ways.

T.K. quickly walked home after he got done talking to Tai. When he got to his apartment complex, he decided to test himself. He ran up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. He made it up to his floor without even breaking a sweat. He walked inside and his mom was waiting for him as soon as he entered the door.

"There you are. I was beginning to get worried about you," she said.

"No need to worry. I was just doing some home work before I left," T.K. answered and headed for his room.

"Oh, T.K., your brother called. Said he couldn't get a hold of you and he needs you to call him," said Nancy.

"Okay, I give him a call. Thanks for telling me," T.K. said entering his room and closing the door. "I'll call Matt later. First, I need to get my work from before done," he said, holding his D-3 up to his computer. He was engulfed in light as he was sucked into his computer screen.

"WOAH!!" T.K. shouted as he landed face first in some sand. His back pack, which flew off his back while being transported, landed on his head. "OW!!!" he said rubbing his head.

"Sure, they can put a man on the moon, but Izzy can't come up with a way for us to land softly here," T.K. muttered.

He got up and dusted himself off. He took a look at his surroundings. He had ended up inside of a dessert. He sat up against a large boulder and started back on his home work from before. After several minutes, he finally got finished. He got up and got his books together, getting that feeling like he was being watched again. He looked around to make sure he was the only one there.

_Just my imagination. I need to lay off the action flicks for a while. Better get back before mom discovers I'm not there. Don't want her to have cows, kittens and horses. And I sure don't want to go through the whole 'I went to the other world where the monsters are' conversation, _he thought.

He activated the T.V. and went back home. When he emerged, he crash-landed on his bed.

_At least the landing zone was soft this time,_ he thought.

He picked himself up and sat down in his desk chair. He dialed Matt to find out what he wanted.

_'T.K.,'_ Matt said.

"Hey, mom said you tried to call me earlier today," T.K. said.

_'Yeah. I called when you were supposed to be out of school. Where where you?' _said Matt.

"I went to the Digital World right after my last class to study in peace. As you know, our cell phones don't work there," T.K. answered.

_'Oh, I see. I was afraid you got detention or something,'_ Matt said.

"Wasn't there something you needed to tell me?" T.K. asked.

_'Oh, yeah. Izzy called. Said Gennai has something important to tell us. All the Digidestend are going to meet in the park Saturday,'_

T.K. felt his heart sink. "Oh. I see. Thanks for the heads up," he replied, trying hide the disappointment in his voice.

_'You bet. See you Saturday,'_ Matt said, and hung up.

T.K. flipped his phone shut and tossed it on his desk. _Great. Now Kari and I can't go to the Digital World. What's so important that Gennai has to get _all_ of us together? Pain in the ass,_ he thought.

"T.K.! Dinner's ready!" Nancy called from the other room.

_Some things are going my way at least._


	2. High Noon in Odaiba

Thank all of you for your reviews. This has been received better that I could have hoped for. In case you are wondering, the title of this chapter is a tribute to _The Andy Griffith Show_. Here's chapter 2.

Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, you would be watching this instead of reading it.

************

_"Oh, Sora, I love you from the bottom of my heart. I never want to spend another moment without you," Tai said, holding Sora close to him._

_"Oh, Tai, I..." Sora said._

_beep  
_

_"What?"_

_beep... beep... BEEP!_

Tai sat up and gasped for air. He looked around and realized he was in his and Kari's room. The alarm clock was going off.

_It... was a dream... Piece of shit alarm clock..._ Tai thought.

He got down from his spot on the top of the bunk bed and shut the alarm clock.

"Good morning, brother," Kari said as she got up.

"What's so good about it?" Tai mumbled.

The siblings walked into the kitchen to get breakfast. Kari sat down while Tai got them a box of cerial and two bowls.

"First one to finish gets the first shower," He told Kari.

"That's not fair. You always gulp your food down like there's no tomorrow," Kari complained.

"Don't you wish you were as cool as me?" Tai joked.

"Cool, as in letting my hair go completely wild and having absolutely no social skills?" Kari teased. Tai just glared at her as his chomped down his cerial, finishing it in almost no time at all.

Tai got up and put his bowl in the sink. He tried to tell Kari something while his mouth was still full, though it was impossible to understand what he said.

"Bless you," Kari teased.

Tai choked down all the cerial in his mouth. "I said, Izzy called me last night. Gennai has something to tell us all. We're all gonna meet at the park and find out what it is Saturday," he said.

"Oh, okay," Kari replied, disappointment obvious in her voice.

"What's the matter? You got a date on Saturday or something?" Tai asked.

"No! I was just going to go to the Digital World and see Gatomon. I haven't seen her in a long time," Kari answered, leaving out that T.K. was supposed to go with her. What Tai didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Oh, okay. You might still can, though. I figure Gennai won't take too long," Tai said entering the bathroom. Kari's spirits were lifted a little bit after hearing this.

***********

T.K. awoke to the sound of his alarm. He got out of bed and stiffly walked to the bathroom to take a shower. He got done and walked into the kitchen. He noticed his mother wasn't there. He did see a note taped to the refrigerator from his mom.

_'Got called in early today. Looks like I'm not going to be home until late tonight. Be careful. I love you.'_

"Isn't that nice?" T.K. said out loud.

He made himself breakfast and then got dressed for school. He then made a b-line for Kari's house to walk her to school. They had started a trend of doing this along with with walking home after school. He got there just as Kari and Tai walked outside the building.

"Morning, Teeks," Tai said.

"Hey, T.K.," Kari said.

"Hey. 'Sup?" T.K. replied.

"Hell, that's what's up. At least it's Friday," Tai said.

"Heh. We better get going. See ya around," T.K. said.

"Okay. You two play nice," Tai teased.

"Taichi!" Kari said. She was about to whack her brother, but he was already long gone.

"Well, he's in a particularly fine mood today, huh?" T.K. said.

"He won't be when he gets home," Kari growled as the two of them started walking.

About half way there, Kari noticed T.K. was acting rather distant.

"Something wrong?" Kari asked.

T.K. didn't answer at first. He just walked on in silence.

"T.K.?" Kari said louder this time.

"What?" T.K. finally said.

"You're acting strange," Kari said.

"What do you mean?" T.K. replied.

"I don't know. It's just... it seems like you're not your usual self," said Kari.

"Ah... It's nothing," T.K. said.

"You know that I'm always here to talk to if you need to," Kari said.

"Thanks, Kari," said T.K. They walked on to school in silence.

************

Tai had been running for a few seconds to make sure he was out of reach of Kari. He looked over his shoulder and saw that she was no where in sight. Tai slowed down and smiled at how he had made fun of Kari earlier. Teasing Kari was so much fun. Especially when she was around T.K. Tai knew how much she cared for T.K. He wondered when the two of them would finally find out that they were soul mates. It was blatently obvious to everyone else. He hoped that it would only be a matter of time.

"Fancy meeting you here," said a familiar voice. Tai looked up and saw Sora.

"Oh, Sora. Hi," Tai said.

"Wow I can't believe you're here. I would have figured you were still asleep at home," Sora teased.

"C'mon, Sora. I'm not _that_ lazy," Tai said. Sora giggled at her chocolate-hair friend.

"I know. But you have to admit your track record isn't the best," Sora said. Tai just sighed.

The memory of Sora going to Matt's concert reared it's ugly head in Tai's mind. He was going to ask Sora out, but Sora said she was going to Matt's concert. Although Tai wanted Sora for himself, he let Sora go because he wanted her to be happy. Even if it meant that he couldn't have her. Then his memory flashed back to the dream he had earlier. While caught up in all this, Tai didn't realize he was about to walk right into a wall.

"Hey, Tai, watch where you're going!" Sora cried, but to no avail.

Tai ran right into the wall and then fell down to the ground. "OUCH! My head..." he said.

"I tried to tell you..." Sora said, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh.

"I guess I zoned out," Tai said as he stood up rubbing his head.

"Well, at least you hit the hardest part of your body," Sora teased. Tai just glared at her. They got back on their way to their school.

************

T.K. sat all by himself in the lunchroom by a window. He was in one of those 'loner' moods where he wanted to be alone. He just sat there for several minutes staring out the window. His thoughts drifted from his mom, to what Gennai would tell them tomorrow, to what everyone else was doing right now. His food sat on the table almost untouched.

"Hey, T.A.," Davis said approaching where T.K. was sitting.

"Huh? Oh, hey Davis," T.K. said weakly.

"What're you doing sitting here all by yourself?" Davis asked as he sat down.

"I just felt like being alone, that's all," T.K. said, hoping Davis would take a hint.

"Really? That's not like you," Davis said. Obviously, he had missed T.K.'s hint.

T.K. just sighed. He really didn't want to have to deal with Davis' crap right now.

"D'you hear Gennai has something to tell us tomorrow?" Davis asked.

"Yeah," T.K. said.

"Wonder what that's all about," Davis said.

"I dunno," T.K. said.

After that, Davis went on a talking rampage. T.K. just sat there and looked out the window, trying to tune out Davis' annoying barrage of nonsince. Once Davis got started, there wasn't much that could stop him. Except maybe Yolie. She always seemed to have the magic touch when it came to getting Davis to shut up.

_'Davis Motomiya, report to the principal's office,'_ the P.A. speaker sounded. This managed to get T.K.'s attention.

"Huh? What could they want with me?" Davis said.

"I don't know. Did you do something that you were not supposed to?" T.K. said.

"No! I don't know what this could be about," Davis said.

"Better get going. Don't want to keep the principal waiting," T.K. said.

Davis quickly scrambled to his feet and walked quickly out of the lunchroom. T.K. was glad that he gone, although he couldn't help be worried about his goggle-wearing friend. He could have been in some serious trouble. At least he didn't have to sit through any more of Davis' boring rambling. The 'Kari this, Kari that' talk was sure to have been coming soon. T.K. got up and threw his mostly uneaten food away and quietly walked to his next class.

************

Tai sat at his usual desk in history. It was one of two classes that he and Sora had during the day. She sat at the desk directly to his left. Tai sporadically kept up with what the teacher was reading out of the text book. Today's lesson was about the fall of the Berlin Wall. Tai looked over at Sora. She was completely involved in the lesson.

_I never really took the time before to notice just how pretty Sora looks. Her beautiful red hair... her eyes... Wait! What am I thinking!? She's Matt's girl. That's the way it's going to stay._ Tai though.

He looked away and glanced at his text book, hoping Sora didn't notice him looking at her._ Get it together, Taichi!_

The bell rung, much to Tai's delight. He quickly got up and walked out of the room. He was going so fast he didn't even notice Sora calling for him. He got into the corridor and headed for his next class.

"Tai! Wait up already!" Tai finally noticed her calling him and stopped. _Crap! Did she see me staring at her!?_

"Hit your head to hard this morning or something? I kept calling you back there, and you just kept walking," she said as she walked up to him.

"Huh? You were calling me?" Tai said, trying to act natural.

"Yeah! I wanted to ask you, what do you think Gennai is going to tell us tomorrow?" Sora said. Tai relaxed just a little bit when he heard what Sora said.

"Gee, I don't know. I guess we'll just have to wait and find out," Tai answered, sweat starting to form on his face.

"Oh. I was hoping you might know something I didn't. See you later," Sora said and walked off.

_Why am I acting this way? It's just Sora. Hold it together, Tai. You _are_ the one who holds the crest of courage._

************

T.K. got outside and looked for Kari to walk her home, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Wait up, T.K.!" he turned and saw Kari walking up.

"My, my, how the tables have turned. What held _you_ up?" T.K. questioned, putting extra emphasis on the word 'you'.

"I went to go see what was up with Davis," Kari answered.

"Oh yeah. What's the deal? I heard him get called to the principal's office," said T.K.

"One of his relatives is in critical condition in the hospital. His parents got him excused early," Kari replied.

"I see. I was worried he was in trouble," T.K. said.

"Yeah. I was worried, too," said Kari. Just then, Yolie and Cody walked up.

"Hey, guys," Yolie said.

"Hi, Yolie, Cody," said Kari.

"Yo, 'sup?" T.K. said.

"Did you guys hear about the meeting in the park tomorrow?" Cody asked.

"Yeah," T.K. said.

"Oh, that's right. Tai said something about that this morning," said Kari.

"Maybe Gennai has made some big discovery or something," said Yolie.

"My guess is, he just wants to tell us something silly. He did that a lot when Tai and us old kids went to the Digital World back in '99," T.K. said.

"I guess we'll just have to wait to find out. See you guys tomorrow," Cody said.

"Yeah, see ya," Yolie said as she and Cody walked away.

T.K. and Kari walked to her building, mostly in silence. T.K. was still in that 'loner' mode.

"So, what do you think Gennai is going to tell us tomorrow?" Kari asked.

"Like I said before, it's probably something stupid and pointless," T.K. answered.

"I don't know. If he needs to get us all together, it must be important. I mean, couldn't he just tell Izzy, and then Izzy could tell us?" said Kari.

"You have a point there. I just thought of something; how are we going to tell Mimi?" T.K. said.

"Call her, I guess," Kari answered.

The two of them reached Kari's building. Just like the day before, T.K. walked Kari all the way to her door.

"See you in the park tomorrow," T.K. said.

"'Kay. See you then."

************


	3. Gennai's Announcement

Again, thank you guys for your reviews. I'm glad you all like it. Let's see if you can spot a small reference to _Gears of War_ located somewhere in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

************

The park in Odaiba was alive on Saturday. Children were playing and people sat on the benches trying to relax after a very hectic week. The Digidestend found a secluded spot under a tree and away from all the civilians where they could make contact with Gennai in peace.

Izzy got out his laptop and started an program that Gennai had given Izzy years before that allowed them to communicate. "All right. Time to finally find out what Gennai wants to tell us." The program took a while to start because of it's size.

"Finally. This has been killing me," said Ken from his spot on the ground

"I hope it's something cool," Cody said.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you," Joe said.

Tai looked over Izzy's shoulder as the program started. "Let's get this over with. I'm missing out on quality T.V. time."

"Slow down there, Tai. You have a lot more time to sit around and be lazy," Izzy said. "And please, don't lean over my shoulder like that. It makes me nervous."

Tai gave Izzy some space and sat down. "Everything makes you nervous." Tai looked around and noticed Davis was nowhere to be found. "Where is Davis?"

"If I were to guess, I'd say he's running late like he always does," said Yolie.

"He's not late. A relative of his is in the hospital. He couldn't make it here," Kari answered.

"Oh. Sucks to be him," Tai said,

The program started and Izzy made contact with Gennai. "Gennai, this is Izzy. Do you read me?"

Gennai appeared in a small window on the screen of the laptop. "I hear you loud and clear. Good to see you all again."

"All right, Gennai, let's have it," Tai said.

Gennai cleared his throat before he spoke. "It seems an old friend, or shall I say enemy, has returned."

"Who are you talking about?" Matt questioned.

Gennai said, "Someone who once fought along side you--"

"Gennai, will you please cut to the chase already!" Tai ordered.

"Okay! Don't blow a gasket!" Gennai said. "Ogremon is back. And he has been causing terror throughout the Digital World. He attacks unsuspecting digimon. It's classic terror warfare. He's using fear to his advantage."

"That's impossible. Ogremon turned over a new leaf. He helped us fight Apocalymon for crying out loud!" said Kari.

"I know this is difficult to believe. I was some what shocked when I found out. But I have observed his acts of aggression for myself. There is no doubt it is Ogremon."

"It has to be a different Ogremon or something... right?" Sora said.

"No. This is the same Ogremon from before."

T.K. pounded his right fist into his left palm. "That big, green dumbshit! We should have blasted him when we had the chance!"

Yolie cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Sorry to interrupt, but just who is Ogremon?"

"Yeah, I don't remember him," said Cody.

"We ran into Ogremon in our first adventure," Tai said. "He was your typical, average digimon bad guy. He worked with Devimon for a while before Angemon blasted him. But, over time we turned him to the light side."

"Or so we thought," Sora added.

"So, this Ogremon was a comrade of yours before? Fascinating," Ken mused.

T.K. looked in Ken's direction "I don't see what's so fascinating about all this."

Matt put his hand on T.K.'s shoulder. "T.K., calm down. The last thing we need right now is conflict in the group."

"Excuse me!" Gennai said. "I have not finished talking yet!"

"Sorry, Gennai. Continue please," said Izzy.

"Where was I? Oh yes. Orgemon isn't just doing this for the hell of it. There has to be an ulterior motive behind all this."

"And what might that be?" Tai questioned.

"I don't know. But think about it; what does Ogremon have to gain from hit-and-run terror attacks on defenseless digimon? The most he could hope to accomplish is obtaining a scary reputation."

"Maybe it's his ego. You know how stuck up Ogremon is," said Joe.

"In any case, we can't just sit here and let Ogremon continue to harm innocent digimon," said Sora.

T.K. stood up and said, "Sora is right. I'm not going to let Ogremon get away with this!"

"I never met this Ogremon character, but he sounds like a real jerk. I think we should go and teach him a lesson!" Yolie said.

You know what you need to do," said Gennai. "But be careful. Ogremon seems stronger than before. You should not take him lightly."

Matt stood up and popped his knuckles. "The way I feel right now, Ogremon better not take _us_ lightly."

"So we all agree; we go to the Digital World and stop that ugly waste of data!" Tai said.

"I leave the matter in your hands. Good luck, Digidestend." said Gennai. The communication program then shut down.

T.K. put his hands on his hips. "So, what should we do first? Go straight to the Digital World?"

Tai thought for a moment and then shook his head. "Not yet. We need to bring Davis and Mimi up to speed first."

"I completely forgot about Mimi," Joe said.

Matt laughed at his blue-haired friend. "Imagine that; Joe forgot about Mimi."

Joe looked at Matt over the tops of his glasses, a stern expression on his face. "Matt, my boy, you really don't want to go there."

Matt held his hands up in front of himself and took small steps backward. "Whoa, c'mon, Joe! It was just a joke."

Joe ajusted his glasses. "You shouldn't joke about your friends like that."

Tai stepped between the two. "If you two are quite done, we have other, more important things we have to take care of."

Joe started laughing. "Man, I must have one hell of a poker face."

Matt's jaw hit the ground below. "You mean you were bluffing? Yeah, you got a good poker face. I thought you were dead serious."

Tai started fuming. "...Are we just going to sit here and play mind games with each other, or are we going to get down to business?" Matt and Joe both got back into line. "I'll go call Davis and let him know what's going on. Izzy, I want you to get a hold of Mimi. And get Gennai to rally our digimon partners so we don't have to go through trying to find 'em. Tomorrow's Sunday. We'll go to the Digital World then and find out what's gotten into Ogremon. Everyone got that?" The group nodded at Tai's question. "Okay then. We'll meet up back here tomorrow and transport to the Digital World."

The team dispersed and went home. All except for T.K. and Kari.

Kari looked at T.K., hurt in her eyes. "I can't believe Ogremon is doing this. After all we went through together."

T.K. put his hand on Kari's shoulder. "I know. We should have never trusted that idiot." Kari looked up at T.K., tears starting to form in her eyes. T.K. pulled her into a hug. "It's okay. We'll show him what we think of his handy work."

"I don't want anybody to get hurt."

"I don't either. That's why we have to stop him."

A tear made it's way down Kari's face, which T.K. wiped away with his thumb. "Don't cry, Kari."

Kari sniffed and looked into T.K.'s deep, blue eyes. _His eyes are so pretty._ She didn't realize it, but her face was moving closer to T.K.'s. Their faces were inches apart now. "Kari, are you coming some time today?" Kari looked over and saw Tai standing there. She quickly backed away from T.K.

Tai had seen Kari in T.K.'s arms, however. "Something I should know about?"

"NO! It's not what you think!" Kari protested.

Tai silently laughed. "Then what's goin' on?" He dawned a big smirk.

Kari stood there for a moment, blushing a bright shade of red. "I just..."

T.K. stepped in front of her. "She got upset over the news of Ogremon. I was trying to calm her down. That's all."

"Aww," Tai said. "Ain't that cute?"

"You mean... you're not mad?" T.K. said.

Tai laughed. "No, not at all. I'm glad Kari has friends who care about her." T.K. visibly relaxed at this. "Wanna go home, Kari?"

"Not yet," she answered.

"'Kay. Just be home before five. Behave, guys." Tai said, walking away.

T.K. looked at Kari. "Still wanna go to the Digital World?"

"I don't know. What if we run into Ogremon?"

"It'll be alright. Besides. Patamon and Gatomon will be there to protect us."

"Okay. Besides, seeing Gatomon might cheer me up."

The two of them went to T.K.'s house and used his computer to reach the Digital World.

************

The two teens landed in a very familiar spot in the Digital World.

"I remember this place," Kari said. "Primary Village."

T.K. looked around. "Well I'll be. It is!"

Just then, a small, red reptile-like digimon appeared from around a corner.

"Huh? Do my eyes deceive me?"

"Elecmon, how ya doin'?" T.K. said.

"Great. Just great. Things have never been better."

"Hi, Elecmon," said Kari.

"It's so nice to see you two again. How long has it been?"

"Too long," said T.K. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know where Patamon and Gatomon are, would you?"

Elecmon scratched the back of his head. "Lemme think... uh... Oh yeah. Follow me. I'll lead you to them."

T.K. and Kari followed Elecmon for a long time.

"Elecmon, are you sure you know where you're going?" T.K. asked.

"Trust me, they're around here some where."

Just then, a big, white cat jumped down from a tree. "Halt! Who goes there!?"

"Gatomon!" Kari exclaimed.

Gatomon ran toward Kari. "Kari! Oh my gosh! I haven't seen you in forever!"

"What, can't I get any love?" T.K. said.

Gatomon hopped up into Kari's arms. "Hi, T.K. I'm so glad you guys came."

"Where's Patamon?"

"He's nearby."

"Well, I gotta get back to the village. See ya," said Elecmon.

"Bye Elecmon," T.K. and Kari said in unison as Elecmon left.

"What are you guys doing here in the Digital World?" Gatomon asked.

"We came to see you and Patamon," Kari answered.

"Aww, you guys are so great."

Patamon then flew up to the happy reunion. "Hey what's all the racket? Huh? T.K.!"

"Patamon!"

"I can't believe you're here!"

"It was Kari's idea to come. How are you, my old friend?"

"Well, could be better."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you later."

"Come on, guys. Let's go for a walk," said Kari.

The four of them walked around for over an hour. They caught up with each other and shared stories.

"So, Patamon. What was it that you were going to tell me earlier?" T.K. asked.

"Huh? Oh. It's a long story."

"Well. I'm not going anywhere fast."

"Okay, so here's the thing..." Patamon never got a chance to finish his story, as the four of them were attacked.

"Die, hominids!" the aggressor said.

T.K. and Kari looked at who had jumped them. It was none other than Ogremon.

"It's him!" T.K. said.

"It...it can't be..." Kari trailed off.

Ogremon laughed evilly. "Oh, look, it's the little Digidestend kids."

"Ogremon, don't do this!" Kari cried.

"There's no stopping me, human bitch!"

Kari was taken aback by Ogremon. "What... did you call me?" She started to cry.

T.K. stepped foward. "Enough of all this pointless talk! Patamon, Gatomon, get in there!"

The two digimon charged Ogremon. Ogremon didn't even budge when he saw them charging at him.

"Pummel Whack!" Orgemon swung his club, narrowly missing the two digimon.

T.K. took Kari's arm and started dragging her. "Let's go! We need to get to cover."

Patamon hovered over Ogremon. "Boom Bubble! Bah!" he fired a big bubble out of his mouth.

"Not so fast. Yah!" Ogremon said, busting Patamon's bubble attack with his club.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon attacked from behind Ogremon and struck him in the back. Ogremon was slightly stunned.

"Pummel Whack!" Ogremon did a fast 180 and hit Gatomon dead on.

"Gatomon!" Kari said after seeing Gatomon get hit. She wanted to go to her partner's aid, but T.K. held her back.

"No, don't! Stay down." T.K. said.

"But..." Kari protested.

"It's not going to help anything if you get hurt." Kari gave in and took cover.

"You little pig with wings! Hold still so I can hit you!" Ogremon taunted as he swung at Patamon.

"Patamon, Digivolve and stop him!" T.K. ordered.

Patamon dodged another attack and flew up high in the air. "Patamon, Digivolve to... Angemon!"

"Oh, like that's going to help you," Ogremon taunted.

Angemon landed and faced down Ogremon. "Always with the smack talk with you bad guys."

"You're the bad guy here."

"Well see about that. Hand of Fate!" Angemon fired an energy blast from his fist. Ogremon blocked the attack with his club for a moment, but the club broke into pieces. The energy blast knocked Ogremon back.

"Ooff. Say, that's pretty strong," Ogremon said getting back up off the ground.

Angemon charged Ogremon and swung his staff. Ogremon was too fast, though, and caught it while Angemon was swinging it. Angemon pulled on the staff with all his might, but could not wrest it from Ogremon's grasp. "What's the matter? Can't handle little ole me?" Ogremon worked the staff free from Angemon. "Let's see how _you_ like it!" Ogremon hit Angemon with his own staff, knocking him to the ground.

"Angemon!" Gatomon said as she ran at Ogremon.

"Gatomon! Armor Digivolve!" Kari ordered.

"Gatomon, Armor Digivolve to... Nerfertimon!"

"Oh, goody! Another fool I can eat for lunch!" Ogremon said.

"Rosetta Stone!" Nerfertimon's neck glowed a bright pink light, from which a large stone tablet came out and flew at Ogremon. Ogremon was hit square in the chest.

"Okay, I've had enough. Later, losers!" Ogremon said as he grabbed something off his belt and threw it into the ground. The object emitted a huge cloud of smoke. Nerfertimon and Angemon ran up to where Ogremon was, only to find he had escaped.

"Blast! He got away!" Angemon said. He de-evolved back into Patamon.

Nerfertimon de-evolved back into Gatomon. "That coward!"

T.K. and Kari ran up to their partners. "Patamon! Gatomon!"

"I think we're okay," said Gatomon.

Kari picked up Gatomon and T.K. picked up Patamon. The two digimon were a little scratched up, but were otherwise okay.

"We had better go back home, T.K.," Kari said.

"Yeah. Don't want that traitor to show back up."

"Traitor? You mean you already knew about Ogremon's recent activity?" Patamon asked T.K.

T.K. nodded. "Yeah. Gennai contacted us and told us everything. We were all going to come here tomorrow and find out what got into him."

"Gennai was right; Ogremon has gotten stronger than before," Kari said.

"Yeah. We might have to DNA Digivolve and go to Ultimate if we want to beat him."

The four of them made their way to the nearest T.V. portal.

"We'll be back tomorrow. You two be careful," T.K. told the two digimon.

"Don't worry about us. We'll be fine," Patamon replied.

"Gatomon, promise me you won't try to fight Ogremon alone," Kari said.

"I promise. You better get home," Gatomon said.

Kari nodded. She and T.K. held their D-3's up to the T.V. They were doused in light and then were gone.

"Hope Ogremon doesn't come back before the team gets here tomorrow," Patamon said.

"Yeah, tomorrow can't come soon enough," said Patamon.

The two digimon went away to hide and wait until the Digidestend returned the next day.

************


	4. Mean Green

Thanks to you, this story now has more reviews than my last story (which was a disaster) in just three chapters. Thank you guys so much. Did you spot the _Gears of War_ reference in the last chapter? Try and see if you can spot references to _Ace Ventura: Pet Detective_ and a Journey song hidden in this chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

"YOU DID WHAT!?!? HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO RECKLESS AND STUPID!?!?" Tai exclaimed as he rose from his spot on the sofa. Kari had just told him about the fight with Ogremon in the Digital World.

"Please don't be mad Tai," Kari pleaded.

"I'm not man, I'm just upset that you would do such a dangerous thing. And by yourself, no less," Tai said. Kari had not told him T.K. was with her in the Digital World.

"But... I really wanted to see Gatomon."

"You were going to see her tomorrow anyway."

Kari looked at Tai with her best puppy dog face. "But we wouldn't have had a chance to visit tomorrow."

Tai kept a stern expression on his face. "No excuse. You could have been hurt back there. Or worse." Kari's 'butter up' attempt had obviously failed terribly.

Kari dropped her head and just stared at the floor. "Are you gonna punish me?"

Tai took a deep breath. "No. You just wanted to see your dear friend."

Kari slowly walked into her and Tai's room and lied down. It had been a tiresome day and she needed to rest. Although it was only about six in the afternoon, Kari drifted off to sleep.

Tai watched her from the door. _I shouldn't have yelled at her like that, but did she really have to go to the Digital World all alone? She could have at least asked me to go with her. Or T.K. even, for that matter. It's so dangerous in the Digital World right now.  
_

************

The day past quickly, and now the Digidestend were in same spot as the day before preparing for their journey to the Digital World. Even Davis managed to make it, on time, no less.

"Weeeeeeeeell, alrighty then! We're all here. Izzy, did you ever get a hold of Mimi?" said Tai.

"After several different attempts, I did manage to reach her. But, since she doesn't have a D-3 to open the digi-port, she's trapped here in the Real World. She won't be able to join us, unfortunately."

"Great! Isn't that just lovely? We'll just have to try and do without her. Did Gennai gather the digimon together for us?"

"Yeah. They're all waiting for us at his house."

"Excellent. Okay people, Let's get this show on the road."

Davis stepped up to Izzy's laptop, D-3 in hand. "Here. Allow me. Digi-port open!"

The portal opened and all the Digidestend held their digivices up to the screen. One by one, they all flew into the screen.

************

"YEE HAW!!!" Yolie exclaimed as she exited the portal from the Real World. She was the last one to leave, and was not only lucky enough to not land face-first on the ground, but everybody else had already gotten up so she didn't have to land in a pile.

"Of course Yolie would be the one not to fall on her face," Davis muttered.

"No belly-aching! Izzy, where are we?" Tai said.

"One sector to the west of Gennai's house."

"I've never seen Gennai's house before," said Cody.

"Just wait until we get there. You'll be impressed at how you get to it," T.K. told Cody.

Kari said, "Oh yeah, don't you have to walk down--"

"Shh! Don't spoil it for them!" Matt told Kari.

The team set off for Gennai's house. It was over two miles from the initial landing spot.

"Izzy... I though... you said... we were... only one... sector... away from... Gennai's... house..." Joe complained.

Tai slapped Joe on the shoulder. "Ah, quit your whining. The only exercise you ever get is moving a pencil while you're sitting at a desk. A little walking isn't going to hurt you."

Sora laughed as she walked along with Matt by her side. "Just like old times."

"Yeah. Joe whining about something, and Tai telling him to man up," Matt chuckled.

Joe gave that look from yesterday, which made Matt stop chuckling immediately.

"This is funny. I wish I could have come with you guys on your first adventure," Davis said.

"When you consider you had no digimon at that time, I think it was good that you did not venture with Tai and his team," Ken told Davis.

"Has anyone ever told you that you talk like a Vulcan?" Yolie asked Ken.

"Vulcan? I do not believe I am familiar with that term."

"What, you've never watched _Star Trek_?" T.K. asked.

"I find that show far to unrealistic for my tastes."

"What? Unrealistic!? C'mon, man, you're letting me down!" Davis said.

"Ahem! If I can have your attention, please, we have arrived," Izzy said.

Yolie, Ken, Cody and Davis all looked around, but noticed Gennai's house was nowhere to be found.

"Um, Izzy, I think your coordinates are off by a little. There's nothing here but a lake and a bunch of grass," Cody said.

Izzy got a big smile on his face. "Just watch."

As if on que, the water started parting, revealing a flight of stairs that led down into the lake.

"Fascinating. Simply fascinating. I have never observed such phenomenon as this," said Ken.

"Holy hell! The lake just split open!" Davis said.

"Does Gennai really live down there?" Yolie asked.

"Come on, children! We can sight-see later," Tai ordered.

The 12 of them walked down the stairs and found a small house at the end.

"So that's it, huh?" Cody asked.

"How does he keep it from flooding in there?" Yolie asked.

"Magic, I guess," Tai answered.

Gennai appeared from the front door. "Ah, you have arrived. Please, come in."

The team walked inside and found their partners. They all ran to each other, happy that they could see each other after such a long time. All except for T.K., Kari, Patamon and Gatomon.

Davis noticed Kari hadn't run to Gatomon. "You two mad at each other or something?"

"No. We got to see each other yesterday," Gatomon answered.

"Huh? You came here by yourself, Kari?" Davis asked.

"No. She came with T.K.," Gatomon answered for Kari.

"You mean to tell me that you came here to the Digital world with _him_!?" Davis said. Kari just nodded.

Palmon looked around and noticed Mimi wasn't there. "Hey, where's Mimi?"

Tai scratched the back of his head. "You see... uh... she couldn't make it. There was no way for her to enter the Digital World, so she had to stay behind."

Palmon's spirits dropped. "Oh... I see."

"You gonna be all right?"

Palmon sighed. "Yeah. I'll be fine."

Sora walked up. "Don't worry, Palmon. Mimi is here with us in spirit." Palmon didn't reply, but simply smiled. "Don't stop believing. Hold on to that feeling that you'll see her again someday."

"I know I will," Palmon replied.

Tai walked over to Gennai. "So, how do you propose we find Ogremon?"

Gennai stood silent in thought for a moment. "Ogremon only targets digimon he knows he can defeat. If you got a weak digimon, say an in-training or a rookie, and used him as bait, Ogremon would likely target him."

"Then we spring a trap. And, BOOM! We got 'im."

"Indeed. It's risky, though. The digimon you use as bait could get destroyed."

"If we could get one of our digimon to Digivolve backwards, that would make it easier."

"Perhaps. Though, I wouldn't try something like that."

Matt then walked up. "What are you two jabering about?"

"We're trying to figure out a way to find Ogremon," Tai answered.

"I suggested to Tai that you could use a digimon as bait," Gennai.

"That's just... wrong! We would be no better than Ogrermon if we did that," Matt said.

"You got a better idea then?" Tai said.

Matt crossed his arms. "Well... no, I don't. But we can't use some poor digimon like that. It's not right."

"Well we can't just run around and aimlessly look for him like idiots."

"Yeah. That's something Davis would do."

"This is your fight," Gennai said. "It's completely your choice how you go about it. Though, it's not a good idea to leave your comrades out of planing a strategy. They could have a solution for all you know."

"Yeah, you're right," Tai said.

The rest of the team continued to catch up with their partners while Tai and Matt talked with Gennai.

Tai approached the team. "Listen up, everybody. I don't want to break up the reunion, but we have things we need to work out. Ogremon is out there some where. We have to come up with a plan to find him and stop him from hurting innocent digimon. Does anybody have any suggestions?"

The group was silent, thinking of how best to cajole Ogremon out of hiding.

"From what I have heard you say about this Ogremon, he is quite the egotist," Ken said. "If we were to publicly challenge his supremacy, I'm sure he would be unable to refuse. Then we simply wait for him to come to us."

"Ken! You're a genius!" Yolie said.

"Yeah. That's a real good idea," Tai said.

"A lot better than what you wanted to do at first," Matt said.

"When you are troubled with decisions, it is some times best to ask for help from your comrades," Gennai whispered in Tai's ear.

"Thanks. I'll have to remember that," Tai told Gennai.

"What are we wasting time sitting around here for? We got a challenge to issue!" Daivs said.

Gennai walked in front of the door before anyone could leave. "Only you can stop Ogremon. But be careful. As I told you before, he is stronger than he was in the past. You cannot go into battle expecting to defeat him with ease."

"Yeah. We can't assume that we're going to walk all over him," Joe said.

"I don't see the problem. Ogremon's a Champion-level digimon, right? And we can have our digimon DNA Digivolve, which puts them at the ultimate level. We have the level advantage, so he won't have a chance! It doesn't matter how strong he is!" Davis said.

"Don't you think you are being a little over confident there, Davis?" Kari said.

"We got nothing to worry about. What? Are you scared he's gonna hurt you? Don't worry, I'll protect you, Kari!"

"Gennai is right, Davis. We can't rush into this," Tai said. _And if you say something like that to my sister again, I'll piss on your grave without even having to move!  
_

"I hope we don't have to have an Ultimate to beat Ogremon. What Azulongmon did to let us Digivolve to Ultimate wore off a long time ago," Agumon said.

"Yeah. If we can't beat Ogremon at Champion level, we'll have to rely on Davis' team," Biyomon said.

"C'mon you guys, Davis said we got this thing covered from every angle. Now, let's go kick Ogremon's ass!" Veemon said.

"Okay. But remember, we can't kill Ogremon straightaway. We still have to find out why he's been doing this," Tai said.

"Good luck, my friends," Gennai said, stepping away from the door.

The team and their digimon all made their way back up the stairs that were flanked on both sides by the lake. When they all got back up on dry land, the water went back to where it had been before.

"Can somebody explain to me why we never came here before? That thing the water does is so cool," Davis said.

"That water thing is so five minutes ago," Sora said. Matt had his arm around her.

Tai tried to ignore the sight of Matt with his arm around Sora. "Okay, let's go spread the news that we want to fight Ogremon."

The Digidestend went around to different places saying they wanted to battle Ogremon. To improve the chance that Ken's plan would work, they threw in some insults and dirty rumors.

************

It was Monday now. The Digidestened had waited around after challenging Ogremon hoping he would show up. He never did, and the Digidestend had to give up and go home. As soon as they were all done with school for the day, the group all met in the computer lab at the middle school.

"Let's go see if Ogremon is ready to meet our challenge," Tai said.

T.K. opened the digi-port this time. They all entered the portal and emerged close to where they had the day before.

"Oh! My spleen!" Joe cried as they all landed.

"I'm wearing a parachute next time!" T.K. complained.

"If everything goes our way, there won't be a next time," Tai said.

The team got up off the ground and walked off the injuries they got from the fall.

"There they are!" Agumon said as he and the rest of the digimon ran up to their partners. Gennai made sure that they would be at the right place when the Digidestend arrived.

"We better move fast now that we're all here. We don't have as much time as we did yesterday," Ken said.

"Yeah. I'm ready for some action after the no-show yesterday," Davis said.

"Didn't we have this discussion yesterday?" Tentomon said.

Davis stomped on the ground. "I get it already! Stop telling me we have to watch ourselves!"

"Easy, Davis! Save some of that anger for Ogremon," Veemon told his goggle-wearing friend.

The Digidestend made their way to a village where several Renamon lived. They figured that would be the place Ogremon would be the most likely to find them.

"He better hurry up. We can't stay here for too much longer," Yolie said.

Tai looked at the clock in his digivice. It was 4:30. Yolie was right. They could only stay half an hour longer before they had to give up. They had other things to worry about back in the Real World like home work and parents. Tai leaned up against a tree and tapped his foot in anticipation. This one-and-a-half hour wait was killing him. He then looked over and saw Matt courting Sora. A scowl fell on Tai's face. He knew that he shouldn't feel like he did about Sora and Matt, be he couldn't stop himself. The thought of the love of his life with that wanna-be rock star was more than he could stomach. Sure, he only wanted Sora and Matt to be happy, but Sora and Tai had a lot of history. Far more history than Matt had with Sora. Tai began to wonder where he ever went wrong with Sora. Did he do or say something? There was the time with the hair clip, but that was a couple of years ago. She had long since forgiven him for that.

Agumon walked up to Tai and noticed the look on his face. "Is there something bothering you, Tai?"

"Yeah, Ogremon," Was Tai's only response.

Agumon noticed Tai was fixated on something. He looked and saw Matt moving in on Sora. "Feel bad about losing her, huh?" Agumon said. He knew how much Sora meant to Tai.

Tai immediately looked away from where Matt and Sora were sitting. "What? I don't know what you're talking about!" Tai could feel his face start to heat up. He saw Agumon wasn't fooled. "Let's not talk about this here. Not while we're within earshot of everbody else."

Agumon simply nodded and sat down against the tree trunk. "I'm always here for you, buddy."

Tai looked back at his digivice watch again. 4:45, on fifteen minutes before they had to give up. "Looks like today's a bust." Right after Tai said that, something big, green and ugly landed right in the middle of the Renamon village. "Or maybe not!"

"Who dares to challenge my greatness!?" he shouted.

The Digidestend and their digimon all charged Ogremon and formed a semi circle and surrounded him.

"That's him!?" Yolie scoffed at Ogremon's appearance.

"Man, he looks like the weakest Champion ever," Davis said.

Ogremon simply laughed at these comments. "Looks can be deceiving you know. Like, for instance, there's more here than just me."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Tai spat.

Ogremon lifted his arm and pointed to one of the entrances to the village. "Look and see for yourself!"

The team looked at where Ogremon was pointing. There stood, or floated rather, a MegaDramon and a GigaDramon.

"I brought reinforcements!" Ogremon laughed. He then jumped away from where he was standing and then landed between the two Mega-level digimon. "And they would like to have a word with you. Get 'im, boys!" Ogremon said. He then ran out of sight.

"That cowardly bastard! He's too scared to fight his own battles!" T.K. said.

"Steady, T.K.! Veemon! Wormmon! DNA Digivolve! We need ImperialDramon! NOW!" Tai ordered. Before Veemon and Wormmon could start to Digivolve, the two dragon digimon charged, ready to kill.

************


	5. Pawns in a Dangerous Game of Chess

Thanks again for your reviews. Here's chapter 5. Can you spot a reference to _Star Trek_ and an old arcade game hidden in this chapter? Thank you all for giving this story twice as many reviews as my last disasterous story. For all you Star Trek fans, check out my other story I'm writing, _Star Trek 2009: Illegal._

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of it's characters.

************

MegaDramon and GigaDramon flew at top speed at the Digidestend.

"We. Are. Going. To. Die!" Gomamon cried.

The team all went in opposite directions and managed to avoid the two pawns of Ogremon.

"He has henchmen now?" Sora said.

"We can gawk over that later. My team, back to base, double time! Davis, you and your team stop these two!" Tai ordered.

"What? You want us to run away and leave them all alone?" Matt protested.

"We're no match for two Mega-level digimon. Davis and his team can take care of this. They held their own just fine before. Let's go, NOW!"

Tai's team did as they were told and fell back. The other digimon DNA digivolved and were now engaging MegaDramon and GigaDramon.

"Positron Laser!" ImperialDramon fired the the large cannon on his back at MegaDramon, but missed.

MegaDramon came about after dodging ImperialDramon's attack. "Dark Side Attack!" MegaDramon's claw-hands opened up and fired several small projectiles. The attack hit ImperialDramon in the head, temporarily dazing him. MegaDramon charged ImperialDramon and headbutted him. ImperialDramon grunted after taking the hit.

"C'mon, ImperialDramon! You can do better than that!" Davis shouted. He and the others were taking cover far away from where the battle was taking place.

"Davis! Stay down! Are you trying to make yourself a wide-open target!?" T.K. said.

Shakkoumon and Silphymon teamed up on GigaDramon to try and out power him since there were Ultimates and GigaDramon was a Mega. "Clay Bomb!" "Dual Sonic Laser!" Shakkoumon and Sliphimon launched their attacks in unison. The combined and hit GigaDramon square in the chest. GigaDramon was pushed backwards a few feet.

ImperialDramon was swinging his claws at MegaDramon, but couldn't land a hit. "What's the matter, swatting flies?" MegaDramon taunted.

"Funny you should mention flies, considering you are one!" ImperialDramon said, finally landing a hit on MegaDramon.

GigaDramon recovered from the combined attack from Shakkoumon and Sliphymon. He charged Slihpymon and grazed her with his hands. Sliphymon kicked GigaDramon in the chest. GigaDramon countered by wrapping his tail around Sliphymon's neck.

"Release her!" Shakkoumon ordered.

GigaDramon simply laughed at Shakkoumon. "Make me, bitch!" GigaDramon tightened his grip around Sliphymon's neck.

Sliphymon pulled GigaDramon's tail down, revealing her mouth. She bit into GigaDramon's tail.

"AHHH!!!" GigaDramon shouted, letting go of Sliphymon. Sliphymon fell to her knees gasping for air.

Shakkoumon charged GigaDramon and punched him in the jaw, which made GigaDramon fall and hit the ground.

ImperialDramon was slapping MegaDramon with his tail. "Take this! And this! And this!" ImperialDramon continued to slap MegaDramon with his tail. Then MegaDramon caught ImperialDramon's tail and threw it aside.

"Dark Side Attack!" MegaDramon launched projectiles from his hands again. ImperialDramon shielded himself from the projectiles with his arm.

"Splendor Blade!" ImperialDramon flew forward quickly and sliced MegaDramon with the sharp claws on his arms. MegaDramon shrieked in pain and then blew apart into data particles.

"That's the way you do it! Yeah!" Davis cheered.

"So tired..." ImperialDramon muttered. He then reverted back into Veemon and Wormmon.

"Oh no! They have run out of energy!" Ken said.

Ken and Davis ran over to their partners and picked them up.

"Veemon, are you alright!?" Daivs said.

"Yeah... I'm fine. Just a little tired," Veemon answered.

"Wormmon?" Ken said

"Don't worry, Ken. I just need some rest and I'll be ready to fight again," Wormmon said.

Ken and Davis ran back to cover.

"One down, one more left to go," T.K. said.

"Yeah, but now our best player is down for the count," Yolie said.

"We'll manage," Kari said.

GigaDramon got back up and flew up out of reach of Shakkoumon and Sliphymon.

"Think we can't get to you up there!?" Sliphymon taunted. She flew up into the air to face down GigaDramon.

"Dark Side Attack!" GigaDramon fired projectiles from his hands much the same way MegaDramon had. Sliphymon flew up higher and dodged the projectiles, but left herself open to attack. GigaDramon saw that Sliphymon was unprotected and charged. He swiped at Sliphymon with his sharp claws. Sliphymon saw him coming and avoided the attack. GigaDramon whipped Sliphymon in the back with his tail. Sliphymon yelled in pain and fell back to the ground. She landed with a loud thud and then de-evolved back into Gatomon and Hawkmon.

"Gatomon, get up! Quick! He's coming back!" Kari shouted.

"Hawkmon!" Yolied shouted.

GigaDramon flew back down to the ground. "Not two, but three birds with one stone!" he laughed.

Shakkoumon got in front of Gatomon and Hawkmon to shield them from GigaDramon. "It's not over yet!"

"That's what you think! Dark Side Attack!" GigaDramon fired his projectiles at Shakkoumon. All Shakkoumon could do was stand there and take the hit. If he moved, Gatomon and Hawkmon would be left defenseless.

"Nova Blast!" Greymon appeared and launched his attack at the unsuspecting GigaDramon. The attack hit GigaDramon in the back, shocking him.

GigaDramon turned around to see Greymon standing there, Tai riding on his back. "Is this all you have? Such a waste of my time!"

"Clay Bomb!" Shakkoumon hit GigaDramon in the back while he was facing Greymon and Tai. GigaDramon's eyes got big as he convulsed in pain. GigaDramon then turned into data particles and was gone.

The team all breathed a big sigh of relief as Shakkoumon reverted back to Patamon and Armadillomon.

"Tai? What are you doing here?" Davis asked.

Tai climbed off Greymon, who reverted back to Agumon. "I couldn't just leave you all behind."

"We would have been doomed if you hadn't come back. We owe you big," T.K. said.

"What about me? Can I get some gratitude here?" Agumon said.

"Oh, sorry. Thanks a lot, Agumon," Davis said.

"Next time somebody tells you to take it slow, you listen!" Patamon told Davis.

Davis scrathced the back of his head. "Yeah... so maybe we don't have this thing covered completely."

"Hey guys, it's after five. Better go on home. Everybody else already went back. Agumon and I are going to go update Gennai," Tai told the team.

"Ah, man. Gotta do this all over again tomorrow. Figures," Cody said.

************

Davis and and his team went back to the Real World, as well Tai's team. Tai and Agumon, however, were now at Gennai's house explaining what happened.

"So, Ogremon has rallied some henchmen?" Gennai said after Tai told him what happened.

"Looks that way. I don't see how he could talk two Mega-level digimon into working with him, though."

"Indeed. Whatever Ogremon's objective is, it obviously interests other digimon besides himself."

Tai sighed and started pacing. "I still don't get why Ogremon started all this. He used to be one of the good guys. Then he goes all terrorist on us."

"Yeah. I though Ogremon was our friend," Agumon said.

"There was always a possibility that Ogremon would go back to his old ways," Gennai said.

"It can't be that simple. There has to be more than him just deciding to turn back to the dark side," Tai said.

"We shall find out in due time. In the mean time, you should return home. You have stayed far longer than you should have anyway."

Tai looked at his digivice clock. _Oh, crap! It's after 5:30! Hope Kari covered for me..._ Tai put his digivice back in his pocket and turned to Agumon. "See ya, pal. I gotta split."

"Okay. Bye," Agumon said, dejected.

"I'll be back tomorrow. Geez. Be careful." Tai exited Gennai's house and went to the nearest T.V. portal.

************

Yolie was sitting with Davis at lunch time the next day.

"Man, that was a close one yesterday, huh?" Davis asked Yolie.

"Yeah. Too close for my tastes."

"Wonder what other surprises Ogremon has waiting for us next?"

"Let's hope we can surprise him this time."

"Yeah," Davis sighed. "If only we could find where his hideout is..."

The two teens sat in silence for a few moments before Kari walked up.

"Hey guys. Mind if I sit with you?" Kari asked.

"Not at all. Have a seat," Yolie said.

Kari sat down and started eating her food. She noticed Davis was staring at her. She tried to ignore him, but it eventually got to her. "Davis, will you please stop staring at me?"

Davis just sat there as though he didn't hear Kari.

"Davis, Kari's talking to you," Yolie said.

"Huh? You say something?" Davis said.

"Ahh, nothing," Yolie replied.

"So, do you think we can catch Ogremon this time?" Kari asked.

"Hopefully. I'm tired of all this," Yolie said.

"How can you be tired of this? This has been a cool adventure," Davis said.

"Cool? Puh-lease."

"Ah, you're no fun."

Yolie laughed. "I don't see how you think almost getting killed in the Digital World yesterday is fun."

"So my definition of fun is different from yours. Sue me."

"Okay, I will!"

"Oh, yeah!?"

"Yeah!"

Davis stood up "OH, YEAH!?"

Yolie stood up as well. "YEAH!"

"Guys! Will you stop it!? Everyone's staring at us!" Kari said.

Davis and Yolie looked around and noticed that the rest of the students in the lunch room were looking their way. They both quickly sat back down, their faces turning red.

"I swear, you two fight like an old married couple," Kari laughed.

"Do not!" Yolie and Davis said in unison.

"I was just joking, you don't have to bite my head off."

The three of them quietly finished their meals and headed to their next class.

************

Tai was walking out of school and was on his way to the middle school. He was walking rather fast, and didn't notice Matt trying to catch up to him.

"Tai, slow down!" Matt said.

Tai stopped and saw Matt running to catch up with him. "I figured you were already at the middle school."

"Fangirl mob held me up."

"How is that different from any other day?"

"Good point." The two of the laughed.

They walked on in silence for a moment.

"So, do you think Ogremon is going to have another surprise waiting for us today?" Matt finally broke the silence.

"Probably. He knows he can't take all 12 of us by himself, so he will most likely have more high-level pawns at the ready," Tai answered.

Sora suddenly ran up. "Hey guys. On the way to middle school computer lab?"

"Yeah," Tai answered.

"Hey, baby," Matt said, putting his arm around Sora.

"Hi, Tiger," Sora said.

"Give me some sugar!" Matt said as he tried to get a kiss.

Sora broke away from Matt. "Now so fast!"

Matt looked at Sora dumbfounded. "What?"

"We're not that far along yet."

"But we've been dating for months!"

"Let's catch Ogremon first, then maybe I'll let you kiss me."

Matt hung his head in defeat. All Tai could do was smile at how Sora had turned Matt down.

************

The 12 Digidestend returned to the Digital World again after they all finished school. Gennai had set up a way for them to enter from his house, so the landed there.

"Captains log: Stardate 0404.15. It's now day three, and we're no closer to reaching our goal. We continue to hunt our target," Tai said.

"Don't be so down Tai. Have faith." Kari said.

"I'm not losing faith. We're _this_ close to getting our hands on Ogremon. I know we can get him."

"I would suggest that only one of us older kids go with Davis' team this time. Odds are that Ogremon has more Mega-level allies. If all of us were to go, we would be proverbial sitting ducks," Izzy said.

"Good Idea. I'll go with them today," Tai said.

"Well what're we waiting for? Let's go!" Davis said.

"Again with the haste, Davis?" Hawkmon asked.

"The sooner, the better, right?" Davis replied.

The seven of them all left Gennai's house and walked around random places in the Digital World. They were hoping that Ogremon would jump them again like he had before.

"Hey, Kari, if we capture Ogremon today, you wanna go for dinner on me later?" Davis asked, getting uncomfortably close to Kari.

"Sorry, Davis, I can't," Kari replied as she stepped away from Davis.

"Why not?"

"Because, I uh... promised T.K. that we would go to the arcade later..." Kari lied.

T.K. looked at her, an inquisitive expression on his face. "You did?" Kari looked T.K. and nodded her head quickly. T.K. made an 'O' shape with his mouth. "I mean... yeah, you did."

"You did what!?"

"Well, Davis, you know what they say; you snooze, you lose," T.K. said jokingly. Davis crossed his arms and cursed under his breath.

Tai smiled at how Davis's attempt to make a move on Kari was thwarted. If there was one thing Tai did not like, it was Davis hitting on Kari. Sure, Davis was like a little brother to Tai, but he really didn't approve of Davis' obsession with his little sister. Tai still hoped that Kari and T.K. would get together. Tai didn't much trust anybody else with Kari.

They walked along for a long time without the slightest sign of Ogremon. It was beginning to look like he wasn't going to show.

"Can we sit down for a while? My feet are killing me!" Armadillomon said.

"Too bad you don't have wings like me!" Patamon said smugly.

Armadillomon ignored Patamon. "Really, can we stop for a minute?"

Tai sighed. "Yeah, make it quick."

The team stopped and took a short break. Tai took a look at his watch. They still had 30 minutes left before they had to head back and try again tomorrow.

"There has to be an easier way to find him. Waiting for him to come to us it too troublesome," Cody said.

"Cody's right. We need to rethink our strategy," said Yolie.

"Ogremon knows we are a threat to him. We want to thwart whatever intentions he has, and he will have to return eventually to fight us again to make sure his scheme proceeds as planed. It's only a matter of time. The only reason we have not been successful so far is because Ogremon's henchmen have impeded us," Ken said.

"Boy, am I tired of all this waiting, though," Wormmon said.

"So am I. But we have have to stick with our strategy. Like Ken said, Ogremon can't avoid us forever," Tai said.

The team all nodded in agreement. They got up and started walking again. Ogremon didn't show however, and the the Digidestend had to go home for the day.

************

Once back in the Real World, the Digidestend dispersed.

While everyone was leaving, Kari approached T.K. "C'mon, let's go."

"Go where?" T.K. said.

"To the arcade, silly."

"Huh? I though you were just using that as an excuse."

"I was, but Davis will wait at the arcade and see if we really went. If he sees that we're not there, it will hurt his feelings."

"I see your point. Let me call my mom and tell her what I'm doing so she won't freak."

************

T.K. and Kari were at the arcade, playing _Galaga_. When one of them ran out of ships, the other would take their turn.

"Thanks for coming, T.K. I know you would rather be at home right now," Kari said.

"Ah it's no prob-LEM! Whoa!" T.K. said, as his ship was almost tractor beamed when he was out of extra ships.

Kari sighed. "Davis has been trying really hard to make a move on me. Don't get me wrong, I really like him. But I only like him as a friend. I don't want to be with him. I keep using excuses like this, but he just doesn't seem to get the message. If he keeps this up, I'm going to run out of excuses!"

T.K. grimaced as he just lost his last ship. "That must be tough."

Kari inserted coins into the slot of the game. "You have no idea. Well maybe you do with all the basketball fangirls." Kari acted a little jealous at the mention of all the girls who admired T.K. because he was a basketball player.

"There's an easy way to make him stop, you know."

"What's that?"

"Get yourself a boyfriend."

Kari shot a shocked look at T.K., causing her ship to get destroyed. "That's not funny, T.K."

"I wasn't joking. Get a boyfriend, and Davis will leave you alone."

"What if that backfires and he bothers me more?"

"Davis is going to act like a chicken with its head cut off at first. But if you stick with it, Davis'll get the message, and then you will be free."

Kari though for a moment while still trying to keep her ship from getting destroyed. "Who do you think I should date?"

"That's up to you."

The two of the continued to play the game. Little did they know, Davis was standing outside watching them from the window.

"I can't believe Kari did this to me!" Davis said. He stomped on the ground and them marched home angry.

************


	6. New Regime

No references to pop culture in this chapter. Sorry. But this is the longest chapter so far and it has a bit of drama. Have fun! Part of this was originally part of chapter 5.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

***********

Davis stomped home and slammed the door behind him.

Jun saw how Davis was acting like he was mad. "Is something wrong?"

Davis walked into his room and slammed the door tightly shut without even bothering to answer Jun.

Jun stood there astonished as her brother's behavior. "Okay... I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

Davis threw himself down on his bed. He covered his head with his pillow and tried to block out the world around him. _Why does Kari hang around the blonde-haired faggot!? What's he got that I don't have? I'm better looking than he is, I'm smarter, I have the stronger digimon, I'm the leader, I have the oh-so-cool goggles, I have the awesome hair style. I have every advantage, and yet, Kari clings to him like she's about to die. I just can't figure it out!_

As Davis' mind began to race over seeing Kari with T.K. in the arcade, it began to cloud up outside. Slowly, it began to rain. Slow drizzle turned into a thick downpour. Davis uncovered his head and looked out his window out at the rain. He always loved it whenever it rained. He found it strangely soothing. Time moved along slowly, and the storm get stronger. A lightning strike hit the ground, causing the power to go out. Davis sat quietly in the darkness, his mind racing like mad. He listened to the sound of the rain hitting his window. It was so peaceful. The sound took his mind off the terrible sight he had witnessed only minutes ago. Davis laid his head down and started to relax. He lost all track of time and slowly drifted off to sleep.

************

Kari and T.K. raced through the rain, trying to find some refuge from the unrelenting downpour. It was windy, wet, and cold.

"Of all the times it could rain, it just had to do it now!" Kari whined.

The two of them laughed. They finally made it to Kari's apartment complex and walked inside.

"Weather like this is why I'm getting to where I don't like the spring time," T.K. said as he and Kari walked into the elevator.

The ride up was filled with an uncomfortable silence. Finally, the elevator dinged. T.K. and Kari walked out and proceeded down the concourse.

Kari looked out of the open-air hallway and noticed that it was still raining very hard and said, "T.K., it's still raining hard. Why don't you stay a while and wait for the storm to die down some."

"Well, I guess I could stay a while," T.K. said as they reached the door.

The two of them walked in and found Tai lying sprawled out on the sofa watching T.V.

"Hey, Kari. Why you so late?" Tai asked.

"Had to go to the arcade with T.K. to escape Davis," Kari answered.

Tai then noticed T.K. standing there. "Well, look at you, Kari. Bringing boys home with you!"

"Oh, come on, Tai! T.K.'s just here to wait out that storm outside!" Kari said, angry at Tai.

"Oh, I'm sure he is," Tai retorted.

Kari glared at him. "Make some room on the couch, will ya?" Kari pushed Tai's legs down off the couch and sat down.

"Touchy, aren't we?" Tai teased.

Kari simply ignored Tai's remark. She noticed T.K. was still standing. "Have a seat, T.K." Kari scooted over and made room for T.K.

"Uh, thanks," T.K. said nervously and sat down next to Kari.

Tai noticed how nervous T.K. was acting about sitting next to Kari. He couldn't help but laugh inside.

Kair grabbed the remote from Tai and started channel surfing. "We're not watching soccer!"

"Put it back! That's an important match!" Tai protested.

"I say T.K. gets to decided what to watch since he's the guest," Kari said and handed T.K. the remote.

"I don't want to be a problem," T.K. said.

"You're not. We fight like this all the time," Kari told T.K.

Tai looked at Kari with a look that said 'why did you just tell him that?'.

The three of them sat there and watched T.V. for a while. T.K. looked out the sliding glass door in the living room and noticed it the storm had let up some.

"Well, I think the rain's starting to slow down. I think I'll be on my way now," T.K. said.

"Okay. Be careful, it's slippery out there," Kari told T.K.

T.K. nodded and let himself outside. He walked home rather quickly to make sure the storm didn't pick back up while he was walking home.

************

The Digidestend returned to the Digital World again the next day, attempting to stop Ogremon. Unrest was starting to manifest itself in the Digidestend. They were beginning to wonder if they would ever catch Ogremon.

It was Matt's turn to go with Davis' team today. They journeyed to the pyramid that they had fought Etemon in years before, thinking Ogremon might have set up a hideout inside there.

"Man, this place is big!" Yolie said.

"Yeah, we had tons of fun trying to get around in this place last time we came here," Matt said.

"Yeah, that phase-thru wall mumbo jumbo was really confusing," T.K. said.

"To what are you referring?" Ken asked T.K.

"It's like this; Some of the walls in here aren't real. You can't see through them unless you're on a certain side, but if you find one, you can walk through it. It's really neat. They're all over the place," Patamon answered for T.K.

"Cool!" Davis said. "Like, I can walk through this wall here?" Davis said and ran straight for a wall.

"Davis wait! We don't know where the fake walls are!" T.K. tried to warn Davis, but was too late. Davis ran right into the wall.

"Davis!" Veemon said as he ran toward his goggle-wearing friend.

"I'm okay! I... think..." Davis said.

The rest of the Digidestend broke out laughing at Davis' foolishness.

"Hey, it's not funny! He could have been hurt!" Veemon said.

"With that thick head, I don't think so," Yolie said, breathing hard from laughing so hard.

"Okay, that's enough humor as Davis' expense. Back to work," Matt said.

They walked around in circles in the pyramid looking for any sign of Ogremon, but he did not appear to be there. They gave up and started back for Gennai's house to go back to the Real World. They entered a large forest.

"I'm so fed up with trying to find him!" Cody said.

"Yeah, me too," Armadillomon said.

"We're never gonna find him," Hawkmon said, dejected.

"Yeah. We might as well give up," Yolie said.

"Hey! What kind of attitude is that!?" T.K. said.

"Yeah, you can't just give up!" Patamon said.

"Face it, T.R., we just can't catch Ogremon," Davis said.

T.K. stopped and grabbed Davis by his shirt. "It's **T.K.!** 'T' as in 'Tom', 'K' as in king'! Got it!?!?" The rest of the team stopped and stared at the two of them.

"T.K.! You stop that, right now!" Matt ordered T.K. He held onto Davis for a few seconds more before finally letting him go. "Can we please not try to kill each other!? Matt said.

"What's gotten into you?" Davis said, gasping for breath.

"What's gotten into _you_!? Davis, as our leader, you have a responsibility to keep your subordinates' morale from going in the dumps! You're supposed to help us out when we're down, and here you are, saying we have no chance of succeeding. If you think that way, it affects your comrades," T.K. said.

Davis stood there for a moment thinking about what T.K. said.

"He's right, Davis. You're negleting your responsibility," Kari said.

"Ah, not you too, Kari," Davis said.

"You know, Davis never really has worried about our morale before. Only his own," Yolie said.

"Come to think of it, you're right, Yolie. He's never given us a pep talk that came straight from the bottom of his heart," Hawkmon said.

"How can you guys do this to me!?" Davis said.

"As much as I don't want to say this, they're right. Tai always was there for us when we got down on morale. Even if he was down himself, he never showed it to us because he knew it would affect us too. Isn't that right, Gabumon?" Matt said.

"Yeah. That's right," Gabumon answered.

"Why is everybody turning on me!?" Davis said.

"Yeah. Everybody back off!" Veemon said.

"We're not turning on you," T.K. said.

"Then what do you call this!?" Davis shouted. The memory of Kari with T.K. in the arcade the day before made its way to the front of Davis' mind.

"Call it giving you our input," Ken said.

"What, now you're turning on me too, Ken!?"

"Davis, calm down! We'll discuss this after we get back," Matt said.

"But--!" Davis protested.

"I said, that's enough! I don't want to hear anything else about this until we get back to base. Understood?"

Davis huffed. "Yeah, I hear ya."

The team all remained silent as they started walking again. T.K. took occasional glaces at Davis, who glared back every time. Even Veemon glared at T.K.

_I guess I shouldn't have done that back there. But it needed to be said. I just hope Davis won't hold it against me._ T.K. thought. Little did T.K. know that Davis had seen him and Kari in the arcade the day before, and was already mad about that. Then, to have T.K. almost start a mutiny against him really put him over the edge. He would have gotten into a fight with T.K. if Matt hadn't been there to break the whole thing up.

They team continued to walk on until something stepped out from the trees that were in front of them and blocked their path. It was Ogremon.

"And just where do you think you're going!?" Ogremon said to the Digidestend.

"Hey! Look who came to get their ass kicked!" Matt said back.

"Yeah, we're prepared for you now!" T.K. said.

"Are you now? Let's find out just how prepared you really are! Attack!" Ogremon ordered.

Right after Ogremon barked his orders, a Gallantmon appeared from out of the trees and got behind the Digidestend, boxing them in.

"Oh on, we're trapped!" Gabumon said.

"Not yet, we're not. Digivolve!" Matt ordered Gabumon.

"Gabumon, Digivolve to... Garurumon!"

"We'll handle Ogremon, you guys take care of his helper!" Matt ordered.

"Got it!" Davis said.

"Oh, I always wanted a pet wolf!" Ogremon taunted.

Garurumon charged Ogremon and tried to scratch him, but Ogremon blocked Garurumon's attack with his club. Ogremon knocked Garurumon's arm away and counter attacked by swinging his club. Garurumon jumped to his left and dodged Ogremon's club.

"Wow, you're fast. I'll just have to slow you down! Supreme King Fist!" Ogremon fired an energy blast from his fist at Garurumon.

"Howling Blaster!" Garurumon fired blue flame from his mouth at Ogremon's attack, causing the two attacks to cancle out.

Veemon and Wormmon had Digivolved and combined into ImperialDramon and were fighting with Gallantmon.

"Shield of the Just!" Gallantmon fired an energy blast from his shield, hitting ImperialDramon dead on.

"Mode change, ImperialDramon!" Davis ordered.

"ImperialDramon, Digivolve to... ImperialDramon Fighter Mode!"

"Becoming taller won't save you! Lightning Joust!" Gallantmon charged ImperialDramon with his spear, but ImperialDramon caught the spear, stopping Gallantmon dead in his tracks.

ImperialDramon puched Gallantmon in the face. Gallantmon clutched his face. "Good hit."

"Positron Laser!" ImperialDramon fired the cannon on his arm at Gallantmon. Gallantmon saw the attack coming and blocked it with his shield.

Gallantmon lowered his shield after the blast stopped and saw ImperialDramon charging him. ImperialDramon tried to punch Gallantmon again, but Gallantmon blocked the punch with his spear arm. Gallantmon jabbed ImperialDramon with his knee. ImperialDramon clutched where Gallantmon had jabbed him and hunched over.

"Take this!" Gallantmon stabbed ImperialDramon with his spear. ImperialDramon shrieked in pain and fell to the ground.

Garurumon wasn't faring much better. Ogremon had him cornered, ready to strike the knock out blow.

"What's the matter, scared? I can see the fear in your eyes. You puny, little weakling! Pummel Whack!" Ogremon said and swung his club. He hit Garurumon with all the force he could muster. Garurumon fell over and de-evolved.

"Garurumon!" Matt shouted.

Gabumon lie on the ground, battle scared. "I'm sorry I failed, Matt," Gabumon muttered.

"Heh heh heh! Too easy!" Ogremon said triumphantly.

ImperialDramon was barely holding on under the assult of Gallantmon. Patamon and Armadillomon combined into Shakkoumon while Hawkmon and Gatomon combined into Sliphymon. They got in front of ImperialDramon trying to shield him from Gallantmon's onslaught.

"Cachina Bomb!" "Static Force!" Sliphymon and Shakkoumon combined their attacks like they had done before, but Gallantmon just blocked them with his shield.

"Even with two Ultimates, we can't compete with a mega!" T.K. said.

"What do we do!?" Cody said.

"Oh no! Ogremon defeated Garurumon!" Kari said.

"We have to do something, Or we will be destroyed!" Ken said.

"Shield of the just!" Gallantmon attacked Sliphymon and Shakkoumon both at once, knocking them back and causing them to de-evolve.

Kari went to check on their partners while T.K. and Cody checked on Patamon and Armadillomon.

"ImperialDramon! You're our last hope! You have to stop that guy!" Davis said.

ImperialDramon had recovered some after Shakkoumon and Sliphymon had shielded him, but he was still wounded badly.

"Time to end this," Gallantmon said. He walked up close to ImperialDramon and drew his spear back. "Lightning Joust!"

ImperialDramon blocked the spear with his arm. "I'll end you! Giga Crusher!" ImperialDramon's dragon head on his chest opened up, revealing a large cannon. It fired and hit Gallantmon in the chest. Gallantmon was destroyed instantly.

"All right! He did it!" Davis cheered merrily.

ImperialDramon reverted back into Veemon and Wormmon.

"Maybe you killed my friend, but you still have me to deal with, and you have no digimon left to fight me with!" Ogremon said.

"We're doomed!" Cody said.

"Everybody, **RUN**!" Davis ordered.

The team picked up their digimon partners and started running as fast as they could.

"You're not going any where!" Ogremon taunted as he gave chase.

Despite Ogremon having a much larger stride than any of the Digidestend, he was only as fast as they were.

"What do we do? We can't lose this guy?" Yolie said as they ran.

"We have to lose him some how!" T.K. said.

"Yeah, but how?" Matt said.

They continued to run for what seemed like forever. The Digidestend started to get tired, which allowed Ogremon to catch up to them some.

"Crap! He's gaining on us!" T.K. said.

"Follow me! I'll get us out of this!" Davis said.

"How?" Yolie said.

"Just follow my lead!" Davis responded.

They followed Davis, thinking he had come up with some master plan to lose Ogremon. They ran on until they came to a sharp cliff.

"Uh, Davis, why'd you have us come here for?"

"Simple; Hawkmon can Digivolve to Aquilamon and fly us down," Davis answered.

"Davis, you big dumbfuck! Hawkmon's too weak to Digivolve!" Yolie said.

Davis took a look at Hawkmon and saw the he was indeed was in no condition to Digivolve. Now they were pinned up against a sharp drop with Ogremon fast approaching from the other direction. An impassible wall of trees blocked the Digidestend's nine o'clock.

"What were you thinking!?" T.K. shouted.

"Oh, look, my dinner trapped its self so I don't have to chase it any more!" Ogremon said.

"Quick, this way!" Matt ordered as he took off to the direction opposite of the tree wall. The rest of the Digidestend followed him along this very small path.

"Not so fast!" Ogremon said. He reached out and managed to grab Davis, who was carrying Veemon.

"Hey! Let me go, you douche!" Davis said.

"Not on your life, boy!" Ogremon laughed.

Ogremon knocked Davis out and disappeared back into the forest.

************

The team had been running for a while, still thinking Ogremon was hot on their tail.

"Hey, I think we lost him," said Cody.

Matt took a look over his shoulder and noticed Ogremon was nowhere to be seen. "Yeah, looks like he's gone."

They all stopped running and caught their breath.

Kari looked around and noticed Davis wasn't with them. "Hey, where is Davis?"

Everybody looked around for him, but Davis wasn't there.

"Maybe he fell behind. He'll probably catch up in a minute," Cody said.

"I doubt that. Davis wouldn't fall behind with his back ground in soccer," Matt said.

"You don't think Ogremon got him do you?" Yolie said, concern evident in her voice.

"Maybe he went on back to Gennai's house?" T.K. said.

"He might have. Let's go find out," Matt said.

They all went to Gennai's house. Davis was still absent when they got there.

"Hey guys. Where's Davis?" Tai said after seeing the team walk in.

"You mean he's not here?" Matt said.

"No, he was with you. What happened?" Sora said.

"Oh, shit..." T.K. said.

************

Davis woke up. He tried to massage his face with his hands, but found that they were tied up. "Huh? What the hell?" Davis started to panic. He looked around and found himself inside of cave. Veemon was tied up and lying on the ground next to him.

"Ah, you're awake," Ogremon said.

"Huh? You!" Davis said.

"What were you expecting?" Ogremon said.

"Are you going to eat me?" Davis said.

"No, you're much to valuable. I can use you as a bargining chip with you stupid-ass friends. It's your digimon that I want."

"Veemon? What could you want with him?"

"I need his soul."

"Huh?"

Ogremon started pacing. "Have your friends ever told you the story of when they fought Devimon?"

"Yeah, they fought and killed him in their first adventure. But what does that have to do with this?"

"They ruthlessly took Devimon's life. And now I plan to revive him!"

Davis was dumbstruck. "How can you revive him?"

"There is an ancient legend that says Devimon can be revived if the souls of 100 digimon are slain in his name."

"So that's why you've been attacking all those defenseless digimon," Davis said as he tried to break free of his restraints. "But why would you want to revive Devimon for? I know you worked for him, but what do you have to gain from it?"

Ogremon grabbed Davis by the throat and brought him up to his face. "Because Devimon is a saint and would be ideal for ruling this world!" Ogremon threw Davis down on the hard ground below. Davis moaned in pain when he landed, but still faced Ogremon with an angry look on his face. "I have taken 97 souls. I only need three more to fulfill my objective."

"You won't get away with this you know. Even if you do kill 100 digimon in Devimon's name and revive him, the Digidestend defeated him once, and they can do it again!" Davis said defiantly.

"You don't get it, do you? Devimon will have the strength of all the digimon that were killed to summon him. With all that power, your stupid friends won't be able to stop him this time!"

"Don't be so sure. We're a lot more powerful than you think."

Ogremon glared at Davis. Little did Ogremon know that Davis was trying to make him keep talking on purpose. Davis remembered he had a knife in his back pocket, and he was trying hard to get to it and cut himself free.

"It makes no difference, Devimon will reign as ruler of the Digital World!" Ogremon said nonchalantly.

_That's it, dummy. Keep talking while I get my knife_. Davis thought. He had tryed hard, and finally got to his knife. He started to cut the rope. "Keep dreaming!"

"We'll see how defiant you are after Devimon makes you his slave!" Ogremon said, turning his back.

"So how did you talk those Mega-level digimon into helping you out?"

Ogremon laughed, still looking away from Davis. "Oh, they were quite interested in what I hap planned. It was easy to get them to work with me!"

Davis snapped the last loop of the rope while Ogremon was still facing the other way. "Hey, numb nuts, I got a present for ya!" Davis said.

Ogremon turned around and caught Davis' knife in his chest. Davis picked Veemon up and made a dash for the exit. The cave was the base of a mountain, hidden by lots of shurbs. It was impossible to tell that a cave was even there. Ogremon stood there stunned for a moment, then painfully pulled the knife out of his chest. After a minute, if finally dawned on him that Davis was getting away. He ran off after Davis. Davis had pulled the ropes off Veemon and was running as fast as he could. His all out sprint jostled Veemon, causing him to wake up.

"Davis, what's going on?" Veemon asked.

"We're haulin' ass, that's what!" Davis answered.

Ogremon ran after Davis for a moment, but lost him and gave up. "Ah, well. It's not like they can stop me now."

Davis and Veemon ran for a long time, through trees and tall grass. The two of them got tired and stopped for a minute.

"I think... we... lost 'im..." Veemon said between breaths.

The two of them continued to catch their breath, when Davis' D-Terminal went off. Davis pulled it out of his pocket and found a message from Tai.

_Davis, where are you? We have looked for ever and haven't been able to find you._

_- Tai_

"What is it?" Veemon asked.

"The others are looking for us. There's no telling how long we were out back there," Davis answered.

***********

Tai, Izzy, and the rest of Davis' team were searching around trying to find Davis. Everyone else had gone back to the Real World after some urging from Tai. Izzy had his laptop out, searching for the signal from Davis' D-3.

"I hope Ogremon didn't catch him," Kari said, concern in her voice.

"He hasn't answered Tai's email, and we haven't been able to find him. Unless he's angry about how we doubted him before, Ogremon must have captured him," Yolie said.

"Don't say things like that!" Kari said.

"Stay calm, Kari. We'll find Davis," Tai said.

"Yeah. We'll find him soon enough," said Gatomon.

"Hey, I got his D-3 signal!" Izzy said.

"You did!? Where!?" Tai said.

"Follow me," Izzy replied.

Izzy raced along, carefully following the signal his laptop detected. Suddenly, Tai's D-Terminal went off.

"I got an email from Davis!" Tai said.

"What's it say!?" Kari demanded.

"It says, 'I'm all right. Ogremon took me hostege, but me and Veemon broke out. Look for my D-3 signal.'"

"We're almost there... he should be pretty close..." Izzy said.

The seven teens and their digimon ran to where the signal was eminating from. Lo and behold, there was Davis and Veemon.

"Davis!" Tai shouted.

"Tai, guys! Boy, am I glad to see you!" Davis said happily.

"I thought we were done for back there!" Veemon said.

"Are you okay?" Kari asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Big idiot couldn't handle us!" Davis said. "I know where his hideout is and what his plan is!" Davis said.

"Really!? What is his plan?" Tai asked.

"He's been killing helpless digimon because he's trying to revive Devimon!"

"What? How?" T.K. asked.

"He found a legend that says, if he kills 100 digimon in the name of Devimon, that Devimon will come back to life with all the power of all the digimon killed in his name! That's what Ogremon has been working for from the start!" Davis said. "C'mon, let's go kick his ass!" he added and started running. He stopped when he noticed that the others weren't following him. "Hey, what's the big idea?"

"Um... Davis... we have something to tell you. Something important," said Yolie.

"What?"

"While you were gone... we took a vote..." T.K. began. "It wasn't my idea, but..."

"We decided, unanimously, that you are no longer fit to lead us, the Digidestend." Yolie added. "We have elected T.K. our leader now."

Davis stood there for a moment, going over what he was just told. "HAHAHAHAHA!!! That's a real funny one, guys! But really, this is no time to be joking. We can end this now."

Kari looked Davis in the eye. "It's not a joke, Davis."

Davis stopped laughing. Suddenly, reality hit him. "No. You're lying!"

"It's true Davis. You've let us all down one time too many," Ken said.

"Yeah, we can't take any more of your idiocy!" Patamon said.

"I'm sorry it's come to this, Davis," Gatomon said.

"How... when did I ever let you down!?"

"First off, You didn't make it to Gennai's briefing back on Saturday. Secondly, you have done nothing but rush since we got here back on Sunday, and that caused us not to be prepared when we did find Ogremon," Ken said. "You let our morale plummet because you were too worried about your own feelings. Then, you led us to that sharp drop off, trapping us and almost getting us all killed. Then you went and got yourself captured, and in effect, left us without a leader. That doesn't include all the times you made mistakes in our last adventure. All in all, you have failed miserably as a leader." he added.

"What! This can't be happening! Tai, do something!" Davis pleaded.

"I can't. They made the decision on their own. It's set in stone now," Tai answered.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Veemon said.

Davis could feel the anger welling up inside of him. "I see what's going on here! This is all a plot to get rid of me because you're all jealous!!! If that's how you want it, then fine!!! I'll leave you all to your precious and all-powerful T.K.!!!" Davis ran away as fast as he could, tears now falling from his eyes.

"Hey, Davis!" Veemon said chasing after Davis.

"Davis, wait!" Kari said. She was going to go after Davis, but Tai stopped her.

"Wait. Let him go," Tai told Kari.

"But--" Kari protested.

"He needs some space to cool off. The last thing he wants right now is too see any of you. I'll go talk to him. The rest of you go home."

_What have I done...?_ T.K. thought as he held his D-3 up to the T.V.

The rest of the team, except for Izzy. reluctantly did as they were told and returned to the Real World.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Tai," Izzy said after the others left.

"Yes. This could be their undoing if it doesn't work out," Tentomon said.

"What right do I have to tell them who their leader should be?" Tai said.

"I see your point. I just hope everything works out okay," Izzy said.

"Me too. You better get back home."

"What about you?"

"Agumon and I have to go find Davis and try and calm him down. Wish us luck." With that, Izzy went back to the Real World while Tai went off to find Davis.

************


	7. The After Effect Pt I

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas. Davis gets a nickname in this chapter! A lot of drama awaits you. Have fun!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

************

The team all emerged from being in the Digital World. They all quickly split up and made their way home. While T.K. walked Kari home, Yolie and Cody walked home together as well.

"Cody," Yolie said, "Do you think we made a mistake?"

Cody looked at Yolie, a look of confusion on his face. "What do you mean?"

"I'm beginning to think we should not have demoted Davis."

"I don't see how you think taking away Davis' position could be a mistake. We have never been better off before."

"Sure, all Davis did was screw up. But I feel bad for him. Now he's somewhere in the Digital World, bawling his eyes out. His feelings are hurt and it's our fault. Even worse than that is, we lost Veemon, too. No Veemon equals no ImperialDramon. No ImperialDramon equals bad things.

Cody thought for a moment. "I see your point. But I'm sure things will come around in time."

"Yeah, but did you see how T.K. was acting over all this? He's acting so guilty."

"He's blaming himself over what happened with Davis. He feels like it was his fault because he was the one to overtake Davis. His reaction is only natural."

"I know T.K. won't make terminal errors like Davis, but I don't trust him with the snake bitten way he's acting right now."

"You worry too much, Yolie.

"Call me paranoid, but my faith in T.K. is not that strong right now."

"You're paranoid. T.K. is going to be a much better leader than Davis ever was."

"I wish I was as confident as you."

************

T.K. and Kari walked on in deadly silence. T.K.'s gaze was fixated on the ground, a big frown upon his face.

"Is something wrong, T.K.?" Kari asked.

T.K. sighed. "I just feel bad about Davis. He's some place in the Digital World all alone with a broken spirit. And I feel like it's my fault."

"T.K., you're our leader now. You've got to get over what happened with Davis. If you're down, then the rest of us will be as well, and then we will be back at square one."

"How am I supposed to feel!? Happy!? Davis is emotionally shattered because of me!"

Kari was taken aback by how T.K. acted. "You weren't the one who got Davis demoted you know. We took a vote."

T.K. shook his head. "Yeah, I didn't dismiss Davis all by myself. But it was _me_ who brought up that he wasn't being a good leader. It was my actions that caused us to even think about that vote in the first place! It's all my fault!"

"T.K.! Stop it! You have a responsibility to uphold now!"

T.K. punched a wall that was next to them on the sidewalk. "Yeah, and I have already failed! Davis wouldn't have run away like he did other wise!"

T.K. pulled his fist back from the wall and looked at it. He hit the wall so hard, it cut his fist open and made it bleed. Terrible pain throbbed through out his hand and part of his forearm. Kari walked up and held T.K.'s hand in hers. She massaged his hand slowly.

"T.K., Davis was going to be that way over losing his leader role no matter what. Now you have to try and keep your chin up. It's your destiny to lead us against Ogremon now."

T.K. stood there with Kari massaging his hand for a moment, his mind racing miles. "Stop that. You'll get blood on your hands."

Kari looked into T.K.'s deep cobalt eyes. "So I get blood on my hands."

The two of them stood there silently, gazing into each others eyes. Their faces slowly started to move together. Then, T.K. suddenly broke away from Kari and faced away from her.

"But what about Davis?" T.K. said cupping his hand.

"He'll recover in time, hopefully."

"But what if he doesn't? What if he never comes back?"

"He'll come back. I know he will."

"What makes you say that?"

"He's a Digidestend. His destiny lies in protecting both worlds. It might take a while, but he get over all this and come back.

T.K.' only reply was a sigh. Then, he started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm just embarrassed over how I acted in front of you."

"You don't have to be embarrassed around me. We're friends, after all."

"Thanks, Kari."

Kari nodded, and the two of them continued walking.

************

Davis ran as fast as he could, tears running down his face. He didn't know why he was running. All he knew was that he had been betrayed. The people he thought were his friends ruthlessly sold him out like he was nothing to them. Davis ran on for what seemed like forever, despite Veemon calling for him to stop. His lungs burned from running. He was running so fast that the world around him seemed like a blur. Davis had absolutely no clue where he was going, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was getting as far away from them as possible. Finally, he got tired and stopped.

"Davis...!" Veemon said as he caught up.

Davis did not respond to Veemon. He dropped down to the ground, exhausted. He buried has face in the ground and cried.

"Davis, don't be sad," Veemon said.

"Oh, I'm supposed to grateful that my friends sold me out!?!?" Davis exclaimed.

Veemon slowly backed away from Davis. "I'm sorry... I really am."

Davis lied there and cried for a long time. He knew his family would be worried about him, but he didn't care. He would stay here for the rest of time if that meant not seeing them again. Being removed as leader wasn't really what hurt Davis. It was the back handed way they did it. The others got together without him knowing about it and mutually decided to oust him from the leader position. Worst of all, it was unanimous. That meant that everyone, including Kari, had voted to usurp him. And he had no clue about it. It hurt him very deeply. His life was officially over now. No one cared about him. Nobody cared about how he felt. He was simply expendable. Davis was so caught up in his sorrow that he didn't notice the sound of someone approaching.

"Who's there!?" Veemon said.

Out of the forest, Agumon emerged with Tai following right behind him.

"Whoa, relax, it's just us," Agumon.

"Oh, Tai and Agumon. Am I glad to see you," Veemon said.

"Is Davis here?" Tai asked.

"Yeah," Veemon said and pointed to Davis lying on the ground.

Tai walked up to Davis and knelt down beside him. "You okay?"

Davis didn't reply. He only sobbed softly.

Tai shook Davis and said, "Davis, speak to me."

Davis slowly picked his head up and looked at Tai. His face was red and his eyes were blood shot from crying. "Why... why did they..." Davis some how found the strength to say. "Why... How could they do this to me...?"

"Davis, I am very disappointed in you," Tai said. Davis was dumbstruck by Tai's words. "The Digidestend don't run off and cry like big babies. Even in the face of adversity, we stand strong. You have done the same for as long as I have known you, even before you were a Digidestend. And now this? There is no word to describe how disappointed I am in you. And you hold the Digi-egg of Courage, too."

Davis tried to find the strength to speak, but couldn't.

"Tai's right. Even when things aren't going your way, you have to stand tall. The Digital World is in peril, and you're one of the only people who can do a thing about it," Agumon said.

Davis flipped over and sat upright. He wiped away the tears from his eyes. "But..." he found the strength to speak. "How am I... supposed to help the Digital World when... when all my friends... hate me?"

"What ever gave you the idea that everybody else hates you?" Tai said.

"They... they stabbed me in the back. Took my position away... without me even being there..."

"The others don't hate you," Agumon said.

"Yeah. They're your friends. They care about you," Tai said.

"Then why did they do this to me?"

"Because... they were doing what they thought was best for the team."

"Yeah, but what about me? I have... have feelings too."

"Yeah, you do. What they did was really low, and maybe a little uncalled for, but you have to try and look at this from their perspective."

"You have feelings, but so do the others," Agumon added.

Davis rolled over and sat up. "But..."

"Davis, you are part of a team," Tai said. "A team member has to think of his comrades before himself sometimes. Especially when that member is the leader. Everything can't always revolve around you. There will be times when you get to be in the limelight, and there will be times when you have to take one for the team. You ought to know this will all the soccer you play."

"If... if you were in... my position, what... would you do?" Davis said.

Tai thought for a moment before he answered. "I wouldn't be happy, but I would go along with it. Know why? Like I said before, sometimes you have to take one for the team."

"You don't understand..."

_I understand better than you think, Ghost Rider. _Tai thought._ I have had to put up with Sora being with Matt because it would hurt everybody if I did anything. Believe me, I know where you are coming from._

"Come on, Davis," Veemon said. "You're a Digidestend."

"Yeah, Veemon's right, Davis," Agumon said.

"Come on, Ghost Rider. We need to get you home," Tai told Davis.

"I don't wanna go back!" Davis protested.

"You can't stay here," Agumon said. "Ogremon will come looking for you. It's too dangerous to here by your self.

"That's right," Veemon said. "It's dangerous enough for us digimon. You really need to go back."

"If I go back, I'll have to face them again," Davis said. "I... I can't face them... like this..."

"So you would rather sit and starve so you can cry like a big baby?" Tai said.

Davis continued to sit on the ground. He rested his hands on his knees for a moment. "Fine..." he finally said, reluctantly.

"Atta boy," Tai said and helped Davis to his feet.

The two of them made their way to the nearest T.V. and returned to the Real World.

************

T.K. sat silently in his room with the lights off, going over all that had transpired. His mind raced wildly. His thoughts went between his new responsibilities as leader and what had happened to Davis. T.K. had known for a long time that he would eventually usurp Davis as leader of the new Digidestend. He just wished that it could have happened under better circumstances. Although he knew it was not his fault, T.K. couldn't help but feel guilty over what happened. If he hadn't said anything about how Davis wasn't worried about the team's morale, then this might not have happened. Worse yet, T.K. had voted against Davis when they called the meeting as Gennai's house. He felt so guilty. T.K. played it over and over again in his mind.

************

_The five new Digidestend and their digimon walked into a room away from Tai, Gennai and the others. Ken had requested that they discuss something important._

_"What's on your mind, Ken?" Yolie asked._

_"After today's events, an important issue has come to light," Ken answered._

_"And what would that be?" T.K. asked._

_"It pertains to Davis. Since our mission to stop Ogremon has begun, Davis has made many mistakes."_

_"What are you trying to get at?" Kari asked._

_"I call for a vote of no confidence. Davis has made critical errors, and I believe it is time we had him removed as our leader."_

_"I'm sorry, but can you speak into my good ear? I though I heard you say we should not allow Davis to be our leader," Gatomon said._

_"I did. Allow me to elaborate--"_

_"Excuse me! I don't mean to interrupt, but I think we should discuss this later." T.K. said. The rest of the team looked at him._

_"And just why should we do that?" Yolie said. "I think Ken has a good proposal."_

_"Because, this isn't right," T.K. answered. "If we're going to go over this, then let's at least do while Davis is around. Discussing his future as our leader while we don't even know where he is right now is just wrong."_

_"Hush, T.K.!" Patamon said. T.K. shot a surprised glance at Patamon. "We almost died back there because Davis made a poor decision. I think it's time to get rid of ole Davis the dummy."_

_"Although I kinda agree with T.K., I'm going to have to go along with the vote of no confidence," Kari said._

_"Davis is a good guy, but he _did_ come close to getting us all killed earlier at the cliff. I agree with the vote of no confidence," Cody said._

_"Count me in on that," Armadillomon said._

_"Yes, I agree as well," said Hawkmon._

_"I'm in total agreeance," said Yolie._

_"I love Davis and all, but it's time for a new leader," said Gatomon._

_"I would really rather not get involved in this, but since we're discussing it, let's remove Davis," Wormmon said._

_"Everyone has chipped in with their vote, except for you, T.K. What do you say?" Ken said._

_T.K. held his chin with his hand and thought for a moment. Needless to say, he was torn. He wanted to agree with the others and oust Davis, but at the same time he knew that doing this without even at least letting Davis know was wrong. T.K. wanted to vote in Davis' favor, but knew it would be to no avial because the others had all voted against Davis._

_"I vote against Davis," T.K. finally said. He hoped that the repercussions of doing this would be good._

_"The vote is unanimous. Davis is hereby dismissed as leader of the new Digidestend," Ken said. "That brings to light another issue; who shall take his place?"_

_The room fell silent for a moment._

_"I vote T.K.!" Patamon said. _

_T.K. looked at Patamon with a displeased expression._

_"I agree!" Kari said._

_Before T.K. knew it, the whole rest of the group had voted in his favor. He could not believe it._

_"I would ask T.K. for his vote, but we have all voted in his favor, so it is a mute point. T.K. is hereby elected our new leader. Congratulations!" Ken said._

_T.K. drooped his shoulders and let out a heavy sigh. Davis would be mad enough over losing his command position, but to lost to T.K. would be too much. T.K. hoped that things would work out. Although, he knew it wouldn't be pleasant.  
_

_************_

T.K. continued to sit in the darkness, wondering if things would ever be the same again. His thoughts then drifted to Davis. Where was he? Was he okay? What would happen when they saw each other again? How would the others treat him when he got back? His thoughts were interrupted by his cell phone. He had received a text message from Tai.

_'I found Davis. He is OK. He is safely back home now.'_

T.K. sat back in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief. Davis being all alone in the Digital World all alone was one worry T.K. did not need.

T.K. dialed Kari.

_'Hello?'_

"Kari, Tai just texted me. He found Davis," T.K. said.

_'Oh, good. That's a relief.'_

"Yeah. I just thought I would let you know."

_'How are you holding up?'_

"Okay, I guess..."

_'Don't worry. Everything will work out fine.'_

"Yeah... I better let you go."

_''Kay. Bye.'_

T.K. flipped his phone shut and put it down on his desk and then sat back in his chair. Next up was the hard part; leading the team, including Davis, against Ogremon. Not to mention trying to reconcile with Davis.

************


	8. The After Effect Pt II

Happy New Year! There's a _Friends_ reference in this chapter. Did you like Davis' nickname from the last chapter? Thank you for 2,000 hits!

Disclaimer: I think you know the drill by now. I don't own Digimon

************

"I'm sorry to bring Davis home so late," Tai told Davis' father. Tai had just come back from the Digital World with Davis.

"I'm just glad he's home now," Mr. Motomiya said. "We we're beginning to get worried."

Tai waved as he turned and left. He started on his way home. It had clouded up while they were in the Digital World. The wind had picked up a lot as well. Tai had been enjoying the once pretty spring day. But now, it felt more like fall. The wind nipped at Tai's exposed arms and legs. It felt like rain could start to fall at any moment. After rubbing his arms to keep them warm, Tai dug his phone out of his pocket and dialed Kari.

_'Hey,'_ Kari's voice came over the phone speaker.

"Hey. I just dropped Davis off."

_'Good. I'm glad he's home now.'_

"Yeah. I just hope he gets over this soon."

_'Not doing to good is he?'_

"Not even. I almost couldn't get him to come home."

_'I'm sure he will recover in time.'_

"Yeah. How's T.K. doing?"

_'He's not to good himself. He's blaming himself over the incident in the Digital World. While he was walking me home, he got mad and punched a wall.'_

"Oh, man... Things are such a mess right now."

_'I know. I just want things to go back to normal.'_

"Hey, I'm gonna go talk to Izzy. Cover for me at home will ya?"

_'What's in it for me?'_

"I don't tell dad that you told your friend about that time he came home drunk off his ass and put on one of mom's dresses."

_'Deal!' _urgency was evident in Kari's voice.

"I thought so. Wait. What's that sound in the background? Are you watching _Friends_!?"

_'But it's that episode where Ross and Rachel share their very first kiss__!'_

"Ross and Rachel don't love each other."

_'Yeah they do.'_

"Then why did Ross start dating Emily then?"

_'Because...'_

"Told ya."

_'But they get together in the end!'_

"Of course they do."

_'You're just a fuddy duddy! I'll see you later.'_

"'Kay, bye," Tai said and hung up.

Tai walked over to Izzy's house and rang the door bell. Much to Tai's surprise, Izzy wasn't fawning over his computer and answered.

"Oh, Tai. Hey," Izzy said.

"Hey. Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all."

The two of them walked into Izzy's room. Of course, Izzy sat down at his desk and started typing on his keyboard. Tai took a seat on the bed.

"I presume you found Davis," Izzy said.

"Yeah. It wasn't pretty."

"What did you expect?"

"I knew he would take it hard, but I didn't think it would be to the point where he didn't want to come home."

Izzy looked at Tai with a shocked expression on his face. "He wanted to just stay in the Digital World?"

"Yeah. Said he didn't want to have to face the others after all this."

"Goodness. I guess this hit him harder than we ever could have expected."

"Yeah..."

"So was there something else you wanted to talk about?"

"Yeah, about what Ogremon is trying to do. You don't think he was B., do you?"

"Not likely. Ogremon is not that bright, and that would lead me to believe that what he told Davis was true. Besides, we don't really have anything else to go off of right now."

Tai got up and and paced the floor. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Now that we know what Ogremon's objective is, we have to keep him from achieving it. He only has three digimon to slay in the name of Devimon to be able to revive him."

"Right. Now, we have to bust all our asses to stop him from killing those other three digimon."

"Something troubling you?"

_Yeah, Sora's with Matt, and I can't do a freaking thing about it._ Tai thought. "It's just that, now we have to keep watch on a bunch of weakling digimon that could be targets of Ogremon," Tai said as he started leaning up against a wall. We suddenly went from being the hunter to playing escort service. I liked it better when all we had to do was chase after him."

"I guess we know what the new Digidestend went through when they were trying to defend the Destiny Stones."

"Heh, I guess so..." Tai chuckled.

"Well, I might have some good news for you."

"Oh yeah. What's that?"

"I have been working with Gennai on an algorithim that will open a digi-port in America so Mimi can join us."

"Excellant." Tai perked up some. "Palmon has been doing nothing but gathering dust at Gennai's house. She should fresh and ready to fight."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up right now. There's only a 5.2 percent chance this will actually work."

"I'll take 5.2 percent over nothing. Have you told Gennai that we discovered what Ogremon has been up to?"

"Not yet. I will get right on that." Izzy started typing and started up the program that allowed communications with the Digital World.

"Okay. I better get home. I'll cross my fingers that the algo-what'cha-ma-callit you and Gennai are working on will work."

"All right. See you tomorrow," Izzy said as Tai let himself out. _It's _algorithim_! Really, Tai, it's not all that hard._

************

Davis sat all alone in his room at his desk. He made not one sound, nor had he moved an inch in over an hour. His family made repeated attempts to cajole him into talking about what was bothering him, but nothing worked. All Davis wanted to do right now was die. He knew he would have to face the others again. All he could think about was what they would do or say. Would they even acknowledge his existence? Would they go on like nothing ever happened? Would he still have even the faintest chance with Kari. Davis' head began to hurt from all the thinking he was doing. He got very dizzy and the room was slowly spinning. He slowly and carefully made his way over to his bed and laid down. Davis couldn't stand the way he felt right now. It was one of the worst feelings he had ever experienced in his life. He just wished that he could go back to before all this happened and forget all about it. Alas, that was not an option. Davis looked up at his window and looked out at the overcast outside. It looked beautiful in the light of the late afternoon. It looked so soothing.

"Davis, honey," Mrs. Motomia said from the other side of Davis' door. "Do you want something to eat? You haven't eaten since you got home, which is unusual for you."

"I told you before, mom, I don't feel like eating!"

Mrs. Motomiya was about to ask Davis again, but decided to give up. She had been trying this ever since Tai had dropped Davis off with no success. After Mrs. Motomiya walked away, Davis started to toss and turn. His mind began to race again. If Davis could change places with someone else to make this suffering stop, he would have jumped at it without a second thought. He wished for this to end and for things to go back to normal. Davis stayed cooped up in his room like that the rest of the day.

************

T.K. and Kari sat together at lunch time. Unlike when they usually ate lunch together, they had barely spoken to each other. T.K. was still dwelling over the incident of yesterday, and Kari didn't know what to say to help him.

"Hard to believe this has happened to the once high and mighty Davis," T.K. finally said.

"Yeah, I feel terrible," Kari said.

"Think he will come to the Digital World today?"

"He didn't even come to school today. He wasn't in the classes we have together."

T.K. sighed heavily. Even though he knew deep down this wasn't his fault, T.K. still blamed himself for everything.

"Come on, T.K.," Kari said. "You have to let go."

"I know," T.K. barely whispered.

"Cheer up. We know what Ogremon is up to and know what to do stop him now. We're finally going to able to end this."

"Yeah. Maybe we can help Davis after that."

Silence fell between the two teens again.

"Worried?" Kari asked.

"About what?"

"The thought of possibly facing Devimon again."

"Well, no. That had never even crossed my mind."

T.K. was taken back to when the Digidestend had faced Devimon. He remembered how scared he was after he was separated from the others. Sure, he had Patamon with him, but he didn't have either of his parents or Matt there for the first time in his life. Then he met back up with the other Digidestend. The small feeling of security he felt after being reunited with the others was gone quickly when they faced off with Devimon. Even with all the other digimon in their Champion forms, they were no match for Devimon. Then Patamon finally Digivolved to Angemon. Angemon sacrificed himself to save the others. Losing Angemon took it's toll on T.K., but he recovered in time. Now the startling realization that he might have to face Devimon again was staring T.K. right in the face.

Kari noticed T.K. was acting distant and nudged him.

"Huh?" T.K. said surprised.

"You were spacing out."

"Oh... I was just thinking about the last time we fought Devimon."

"After all the things Tai has told me about him, I'm kinda glad I wasn't there yet."

"Yeah. Be glad you didn't have to go through what we did back there. It was so scary when we all got separated."

"Tai told me Devimon actually broke File Island in to several smaller islands and stranded you on them."

"That's right. The whole island broke apart and started moving away from the center." T.K. leaned over and laid down on the table.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to think about fighting Devimon again."

"T.K., what kind of talk is that? You're leader now."

"I know. It's just, fighting him the first time almost destroyed me when Angemon died."

"That was then. This is now. You're stronger now. You can do this, I know you can."

T.K. sat back up and smiled.

Before either of them could say anything else, the bell rang, indicating that they had 10 minutes to get their books and get to class. The two of the got up and went to their classes.

***********

Once again, the Digidestend gathered in the computer lab after finishing school.

"Good news," Izzy told Tai. "Despite that 94.8 percent chance that the algorithim would fail, Gennai and I got it to work! Mimi will be able to join us today."

"Good!" Tai said as he slapped fists with Izzy. Tai looked around and noticed Davis wasn't there. "Kari, did Davis come to school today?"

"No. He was absent today," Kari answered.

_Oh, great. Here we go again!_ Tai grimaced.

"Allow me to call him," Ken said.

"No, let me," Tai said. "I think I stand a better chance of getting him to come."

The Digidestend started making the journey to the Digital World while Tai stayed behind and dialed Davis.

_Come on, Davis! I'm not going to take this very long!_ Tai thought as the phone rang.

_'Hi there, Davis here. I can't talk right now, probably on the count of I'm busy stuffing my face! Please leave a message.'_

"Davis! If you aren't in the Digital World in 30 mintues, I'm gonna kick your ass!" Tai said and hung up. He held his digivice up to the screen of the computer they were using and went to the Digital World.

************


	9. Tension

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

************

Davis ignored his ringing cell phone and sat on the edge of his bed. He felt slightly better than the day before, but still wasn't himself. The caller left a voice message. Curiousity got managed to get the better of him, and he went to see what it was.

_'Davis! If you aren't in the Digital World in 30 minutes, I'm gonna kick your ass!' _Tai's voice came over the speaker.

Davis slammed the phone shut and threw it down. At first, he didn't want to go, but he thought it would be best not to invoke the wrath of Tai. Reluctantly, he got his D-3 and activated a Digi-port with the computer in his room.

_Why can't he just give me some space?_ Davis thought as he was sucked into the Digi-port.

************

Tai and the gang had walked up out of the hidden entrance to Gennai's house.

"It's so good to have you back, Mimi," Sora said.

"Yeah, I missed you so much," Yolie said.

"You have no idea how much I have been wanting to see you guys," Mimi said. "It's so boring back home right now."

"You sure picked the right time to show up if you want some excitement," Matt said.

Mimi laughed. "Sure, you're hot and all, but you're far from exciting."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"

"Matt, stop it!" Sora said. "We haven't seen Mimi in forever, and you need to be nice!"

"She started it!"

"Calm down now, children!" Tai said. It was less of an order and more of a joke.

"Fine!" Matt huffed and crossed his arms. "Where do we go from here?"

"We know Ogremon's plan, now we have to prevent it," Ken answered.

Suddenly, Davis walked up.

"Look who decided to show up," Tai said

Davis didn't reply. He was hanging his head, trying to go unnoticed from the others.

"Are you alright, Davis?" Kari asked. Again, Davis said nothing.

"Lets all give Davis some personal space right now," Tai said.

"Whatever you say," T.K. said. T.K. had not looked at Davis. He didn't have the strength to right now. This was something only time was going to fix. T.K. feared that things would never be the same again, and that the group would fall apart. Even worse, he thought it was his fault any of this even happened because he spoke up before.

"As I was saying," Ken said. "We have to prevent Ogremon from killing three more digimon."

"But how?" Yolie said. "We don't even know where he is right now."

"Why don't we go check that cave he took Davis to?" Cody asked.

"Might not do any good," Izzy said. "He knows that we know where his hideout is. He won't ever go back to that place ever again."

"You're probably right, but we have nothing else to work with right now," Tai said. "Lets go have a look."

The team all nodded, and they set off for the cave Ogremon had taken Davis the day before.

The trek there was filled with much tension. Not one word was spoken. Nobody would say anything for fear that they might spark an argument Davis still hadn't looked at any of the other, nor had he made even the slightest sound. T.K. noticed how the usually free spirited Davis was acting, and felt guilty. He wished that there was something he could do to fix the situation.

"This makes me feel nervous," Sora whispered to Matt.

"No Kidding," Matt whispered back. "I hope they can pull together when the time comes."

The team reached the cave.

Agumon led the other digimon up next to the mouth. "Get ready, fellas. CHARGE!!!" Agumon led all the digimon on a huge charge into the cave.

The humans stood outside, waiting nervously. They couldn't see anything that was going on inside the cave. Every second felt made the Digidestend's heart rates go up. Was Ogremon still there? And if he was, would the digimon be able to defeat him? Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the digimon all emerged from the cave.

"Nobody's in there," Biyomon said.

"Yeah, There is no indication that somebody has even been in there," Gomamon added.

"I knew Ogremon would never come back here," Izzy said. "The risk of staying here was far too high."

"Great, now what?" said Joe.

"Yeah, we have nothing to go off of," Matt said. "We can't find him. And if we can't find him, that means that nothing is standing in his way."

"Keep you chin up, people!" Tai said. "This isn't over. Not by a long shot."

"Now that is how a leader is supposed to act," Patamon said.

"PATAMON!" T.K. scolded.

Tai grimaced at what happened. The new team was in total disarray.

"S-sorry, T.K.," Patamon said.

"If we're done with putting each other down, we have other things to take care of," Izzy said. "There's a menace out there somewhere, and we have to stop him. You guys have got to get yourselves together fast, bacause we sure don't have time for this."

"That's damn straight!" Tai said. "Ogremon will attack a digimon weaker than him. That's how we catch him."

"But he could be attacking any digimon anywhere at the very moment," Cody said. "We can't be everywhere at once."

"Sure, we can't be everywhere at once," T.K. said. "But that doesn't mean we can't be several places at once."

When Kari heard this, she was deeply relieved. T.K. was finally starting to step up to his responsiblity. He had instilled confidence into his comrades.

"That's the spirit, Teeks!" Tai said.

"But where do we even start to look?" Sora said.

"Simple, anywhere that there are weak or low-level digimon," Ken said.

"There are 1000 places like that though!" Gatomon said.

"Then we'll check 'em all!" T.K. said. "Eventually, we'll find him."

"I just hope we find him before it's too late," Kari said.

Suddnely, there was loud explosion that went off some distance from the Digidestend.

"Look: he saved us the trouble of finding him!" Tai said. "Time to rock 'n' roll! Lets go!"

The Digidestend did as they were ordered and ran in the direction of the explosion. All except for Davis. He simply sauntered along.

"Davis!" Veemon said. "Hurry up. They need us up there!" Davis stopped and looked Veemon with a blank expression on his face. In fact, his experssion had some anger in it. Veemon backed off after seeing this. "Don't look at me like that. Remember what Tai said? He said even though you aren't the leader any more, you still have a duty to the Digital World." Davis maintained the same expression. "Fine! Stay here and be a wuss!" Veemon ran and caught back up to the others while Davis continued his slow pace.

The team got to where the explosion occured and found Ogremon facing off with a Tyrannomon. The explosion was caused by Tyrannomon using his attack, Blaze Blast, and hitting the ground with it.

"Is that really all you got? Ha!" Ogremon mocked.

"Blaze Blast!" Tyrannomon launched his attack at Ogremon again. Ogremon jumped high up into the air to dodge the attack. It hit some trees behind where Ogremon was standing, catching them on fire.

"You're a big dummy!" Ogremon taunted.

"Lets hit him while he's distacted," Tai said. "Everyone Digivove."

The digimon did as they were ordered, and Digivolved. The digimon belonging to Tai's team Digivolved to Champion, while Gatomon and Hawkmon combined into Sliphymon. Patamon and Armadillomon did the same. Wormmon simply Digivolved to Stingmon.

"Where is Davis?" Sora asked.

"He's way back there," Veemon answered. "He wouldn't run. Even when I tryed to talk him into it."

"Stay back here with us until he catches up so you can Digivolve," Tai said.

"Okay," Veemon replied.

The other digimon snuck up on Ogremon while he continued to do battle with Tyrannomon.

"Nova Blast!"

"Howling Blaster!"

"Meteor Wing!"

"Electro Shocker!"

Greymon, Garurumon, Birdramon, and Kabutrimon all combined their attacks. The super attack hit the unsuspecting Ogremon in the back, making him fly.

Ogremon stumbled to his feet and looked at who attacked him. "Oh, look who's back."

"Time for you reign of terror to come to an end," said Shakkoumon.

"Time for you to shut the hell up. Attack!" Ogremon ordered.

A Nanimon appeared at Ogremon's order and faced off with the Digidestend's digimon.

"What the!?" Kari said.

"That is the... ugliest thing I have ever had the misfortune to look at!" Yolie said.

"Never thought we would see him again," Greymon said.

"Fear me!" Nanimon said. "I am the greatest! Bow down before my awesomeness!"

"Sure thing, butt ugly!" Birdramon said.

Soon after, a Phoenixmon came down from out of thew sky.

"What's that?" Tai said.

"Phoenixmon. Mega-Level!" Izzy answered.

"Great. One Mega is bad enough, but two!?" Joe said.

"The hell is Davis?" Matt said. "We gotta have ImperialDramon!"

Phoenixmon and Puppetmon walked up and blocked the Digidestend from reaching Ogremon, who was continuing his assault on Tyrannomon.

"We have to get back there and stop him!" Yolie said.

Finally, Davis caught up to the others.

"Now, Digivolve!" Tai ordered Stingmon and Veemon.

Veemon and Stingmon DNA Digivolved to ImperialDramon.

"Now we have a chance," Sora said.

"Positron Laser!" ImperialDramon fired his laser at Nanimon, killed him immediately.

"That's the way. One down!" T.K. said.

"Gabumon!" Matt called.

ImperialDramon and Phoenixmon were facing off with each other in the sky.

"Positron Laser!" ImperialDramon fired a barrage of shots from his laser, but Phoenixmon was moving so fast none of them hit.

"Starlight Explosion!" Phoenixmon fired a amber-colored energy blast. ImperialDramon rolled over and missed the attack.

ImperialDramon charged Phoenixmon and head-butted her. She lost control and fell down out of the sky. Shakkoumon and Sliphymon surronded her while Greymon and the others went after Ogremon.

"You will wane and die!" Ogremon shouted and thrusted his club in Tyrannomon's chest. The club went straight through Tyrannomon's body and stuck out the other side. Tyrannomon shouted in pain. "I claim your life in the name of the all-powerful Devimon!" Ogremon said as Tyrannomon was vaporized.

"Oh no! We're too late!" Kabuterimon said.

"Not yet, we can still kill him," Greymon said.

"Kill this!" Ogremon said and threw something into the ground. It was a smoke bomb. The smoke bomb made a large cloud that Ogremon used to confuse the others and escape. The smoke cleared, revealing Ogremon had gotten away once again.

"That damn Ogremon!" Tai exclaimed.

"Great. Now he's one step closer to reviving Devimon!" Matt said.

"Hey, it's not over yet. We still have Phoenixmon to deal with!" Izzy said.

ImperialDramon, Shakkoumon and Sliphymon all had Phoenixmon surrounded.

"Starlight Explosion!" Phoenixmon lifted her wings and and fired small energy blasts in all directions. The three digimon got hit, but weren't hurt too badly.

"Positron Laser!"

"Cachina Bomb!"

"Static Force!"

The three digimon launched the attacks at the same time. They hit at the same time in three different places on Phoenixmon's body. Phoenixmon was badly injured, but still fought on. She got up and tried to scracth Shakkoumon with her sharp talons. Shakkoumon rasied his arm to block the attack. Phoenixmon's talons dug deep into Shakkoumon's arm.

"AH!" Shakkoumon shouted.

Phoenixmon released Shakkoumon's arm and turned toward Sliphymon. Before she could attack, though, ImperialDramon charged her and slashed her with his claws multiple times. Phoenixmon shrieked in pain and was destroyed. All the digimon then de-evolved back into their rookie forms.

"Well, we got two more of Ogremon's hentchmen, but he killed one more digimon in Devimon's name," Tai said.

"And to make matters worse, he got away as well," Izzy said.

"That bastard!" Matt said.

"Don't worry. He still has two more digimon to go. We'll get him," Tai said.

"I wish I had your confidence," Sora said.

"Tai is right," T.K. said. "This still isn't over."

"That's my T.K.," Kari said as she put her hand on his shoulder.

"But what if he kills the last two digimon while we're gone home?" Yolie asked.

"He won't," Gennai said as he approached. "He has used a lot of energy defeating Tyrannomon. He won't risk getting destroyed because he was too weak."

"Gennai!" Joe said.

"Surprised to see me?"

"I figured you wouldn't leave your house," Tai said.

"Of course I leave my house. But that's not important. Come, lets get you home. You need to rest your digimon for tomorrow."

The Digidestend did as they were told and returned to Gennai's house.

"I can come back again tomorrow, right?" Mimi asked Gennai after they returned to his house.

"You should be able to. Izzy and I worked tirelessly to make sure you could be here today," Gennai replied.

"Good. I guess I will see you guys again tomorrow."

"Bye, Mimi," Sora said as she hugged Mimi.

The Digidestend proceeded to return to the Real World.

************

The team emerged from the computer screen. They all exited the building and started on their way home.

T.K. was going to walk Kari home as usual, but saw Davis standing all alone at the entrance to the school building. "Kari, will you be okay by yourself?"

Kari looked at T.K., as puzzled look on her face. "Why?" T.K. simply pointed at Davis. "You're going to try and talk to him?"

"Yeah. I can't take all this tension. Something's gotta give."

"Good luck. I hope you can help him." With that Kari continued on her way home.

T.K. slowly walked up to Davis. "Um... Davis..."

Davis looked up at T.K. "I got nothing to say to you..." he said barely audible.

"Davis, please!"

"So now you want to talk to me?"

"I didn't want to take your job! I'm sorry. I didn't want to do this to you. Ken called for the vote. I said we should have do this with you around."

Davis thought for a moment. "You weren't the one who called the vote to get rid of me?"

"We didn't want to rid of you. And no, I didn't call that for that vote. Davis, you are one of us, the Digidestend! Sure, we were disappointed in your ability to lead us, but we still wanted you with us." Davis quietly stood there listening to T.K. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't want any of this. I shouldn't have opened my big mouth back there about you not looking after our morale."

"You... did what you had to," Davis said.

"Maybe, but I should have thought about it before I said anything."

"It's... okay." T.K. looked at Davis with a shocked expression. "I just... I want things to go back the way they were before."

"So you forgive me?"

Davis stook his hand out. "Yeah." Davis and T.K. shook hands. "I'm ready to put this whole thing behind me."

"So am I. Besides, we need each other if we want any chance of beating Ogremon."

"Yeah. And I'm ready to support my leader."

"Now that's the Davis I know."

"Glad to be back. Better get home."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

Davis turned around and headed for his house. _Oh... wait... My family doesn't know that I'm gone!_ Davis thought.

"And it just now hit you that you go home," Tai said.

"Whoa! How long have you been there?"

"Long enough. I heard you and T.K. talking. I'm very proud of you, Davis."

Davis scratched his neck. "Yeah, well, what can I say?"

"'Bout time you stopped acting like an idiot."

"Hey!"

"Chill, I was joking." Tai said. _Not!_ he thought. "Lets send you back to the Digital World so Gennai can transport you back to your house."

Tai lead Davis back inside the school and sent him back the Digital World so Gennai could use the portal in his house to beam Davis back into his room without his parents knowing he was ever gone.

Tai walked out of the school and started on his way home, a smile on his face. T.K. and Davis had finally made up, and now the new team was in good hands. There would be nothing to stop the Digidestend from thwarting Ogremon's plans now.

************


	10. Functioning as a Unit

Disclaimer: As you probably know by now, I don't own Digimon. There is a reference to a _Star Wars_ movie in this chapter. I don't own that, either.

T.K. returned home after talking to Davis. He was sitting on the sofa watching T.V. Now that the two of them had made up, T.K. felt better than he had in some time. It was like the weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders.

"T.K." Nancy, his mother said as she approached. "We need to talk."

"What about?" T.K. said.

Nancy sat down next to T.K. on the sofa. "Remind me what has been keeping you from getting home these last four days."

"I told you, mom, my friends and I have been having after school dinner everyday," T.K. lied through his tooth. "It's a new tradition we have started."

"But some days you get home later than others. And you know you have home work."

"Well... some times we take longer than others because we start having a really fun time."

"Oh. Okay. But why do you still have dinner when you get back?"

T.K. started to sweat a little. "Because I... go to talk. I never eat when we do that. I don't want to disappoint you by eating resturant food and not your home-cooked food."

"Oh! You little sweet heart. I thought you were going off and doing things you shouldn't! I love you so much!" Nancy said and hugged T.K. very tight.

"What did you think I was doing?" T.K. said, short of breath from his mother's grip.

"Messing around with girls."

_What! Come on, ma! You know me better than that. I'm still the 'V' word for cryin' out loud! _

Nancy finally released T.K. and walked away. T.K. breathed a sigh of relief. She had almost caught him that time. There were times where T.K. thought about telling his mother about all the stuff he did in the Digital World. But he thought it would be hard on her. She would, of course, worry herself sick because her son would be in serious danger. If only she knew how important his work in the Digital World was. Especially now that he was leader of the Digidestend. T.K. put these thoughts aside and went back to watching television. His favorite movie, _Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back_, was on.

Tai and Matt sat next to each other in science class. Neither one of them even had a clue what the self righteous teacher was saying, but they always sat next to each other for the off chance one knew an answer that the other didn't. Tai sat very still at his desk, like something was bothering him. Matt took notice of this quickly. He wondered what was bothering his tall-haired friend. The class ended, not a moment too soon, and the students walked out. Tai went to his locker to get some of his books for his next class. Matt followed him to try and find out what was bothering him.

"Tai?" Matt said.

"WHAT!" Tai said and jumped around to see what was going on. "Oh, Matt... You scared the piss outta me."

"Yeah, after how loud you just were, I figured as much."

"Whadda want?" Tai asked with a glare.

"You acted like you were dwelling over something back there in class. What's the matter?"

Tai dug around in his locker. "What ever would give you the idea that something was bothering me?"

Matt shifted on his feet and crossed his arms. "I know you better than that, Taichi. We've been through enough over the years that I know how you work. Now, I know you are dwelling on something. Why don't you tell me about it?"

Tai closed his locker. "I really don't want to talk about it." He started to walk off.

Matt stepped in front of him and said, "Don't give me that, Tai."

Tai stood there for a minute thinking if he should tell Matt that he was dwelling over the fact that the love of his life was going out with Matt.

"C'mon, spill it!" Matt demanded.

"Well... yeah, there is something on my mind. Not that it matters though." With that, Tai started walking.

Matt walked along with Tai. "Yeah, it does matter. If you go to the Digital World acting like this, it's going to cause trouble."

Tai took a deep breath. "Okay. Maybe you can help me out by answering a question."

"And what would that be?"

"Let's say that there is someone I know. He is 100 percent, prime time in love with this one girl."

"Yeah. Tell me more."

"Well this girl he loves is with another guy. This would be big anyway, but there's more to it."

"What?"

"The guy she's with is his very best friend."

Matt scratched his neck "Oh. That's real tough."

"Yeah. So What should this guy do?"

"Well, who is it?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Tai said slightly defensive.

"If I knew who it was, it might help."

"I... am going to keep that under wraps."

"Why? And exactly what does this guy's love life have at all to do with you?"

"I can't tell you right now. Don't ask why. I just can't tell you anything at this particular time."

Matt huffed at Tai. "I will never understand you."

"And I will never understand why you think you're so cool. Joe is a nerd, and he is cooler than you!"

Matt laughed. His laughing got so loud, people began to stare. "Oh, that's a good one. I'll see ya around, Big Man." With that, Matt left Tai alone.

Tai relaxed when Matt left. He was afraid that Matt was going to put two and two together and find out that Tai was the one in love, and Sora was the one he loved, and Matt was who she was with. Tai wanted to avoid that at all costs. His love life came after the well being of the team. Even more important was that Matt and Sora, his two best friends, were happy. He would do nothing selfish that would affect the others. Tai put these thoughts aside and quietly walked into his next class.

T.K. was the first to make it to the computer lab. He sat down and waited for the others to get there. Suddenly, the door opened and Kari entered.

"Hey, T.K.," Kari said as she walked up to him.

"Hi," T.K. responded.

"I see you're feeling better than before."

"Yeah, I feel great."

"I take it that things went well with you and Davis yesterday."

"Yes, they did. I told him that I felt bad over him being ousted from the leader position. I also told him it wasn't me that called for the vote."

"I bet that by its self helped a lot."

"Sure did. He visibly brightened up after that."

"Good. I am glad that this is all behind us now."

"Yeah. I could not take one more minute of all that tension."

"I that knew you would make a good leader."

T.K.'s face turned a little red. "Ah... you're just saying that..."

"No, I mean it. I believed in you from the start because I knew you would be a capable leader."

T.K.'s face turned a deeper shade of red. He couldn't find anything to say. As if the gods shined on him, the door opened and in came Yolei and Cody, getting T.K. out of this sticky situation.

"How did I know you two would be here?" Yolei said.

"Yeah, are you two trying to get together behind our backs?" Cody said.

T.K.'s furious blush continued and Kari's face also turned a deep shade of red.

_Okay, so maybe that wasn't the 'saved be the bell' moment I was looking for..._ T.K. thought. "No, we just have a better since of time than you two to." Count on T.K. to talk his way out of situations like that.

Kari laughed. "Gee, I think I could say the same thing about you two. You _are_ always together."

"Hey...!" Cody protested.

"Are you kidding?" Yolei said. "I'm way too old for him."

"Just saying," Kari said.

Slowly, the rest of the Digidestend starting walking into the computer lab, ready to make another trip to the Digital World to try and stop Ogremon. Davis, now over what had happened before, was even there.

"Okay, we're all here, and we're all in the right state of mind," Tai said as he looked at Daivs. "Now, what do you say we go find our selves an ogre?"

"YEAH!" The team all replied in unison.

T.K. walked up to one of the computers and opened the Digi-port, and they all flew into the screen one by one and went into the Digital World.

After meeting up with Mimi and the digimon, the team went out in search of Ogremon.

"Well, what should we do to find him now?" Joe said.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and catch him attacking another helpless digimon," Gabumon said.

"I would rather catch him while he's not attacking a digimon," Mimi said. "We might not stop him, and another digimon would be dead."

"Mimi brings up a good point," T.K. said. "But we have to find him some way."

"He moved out of the cave," Izzy said. "He has to have another hideout. The problem is finding it."

"Yeah," Patamon said. "We have no leads."

"Ogremon is an idiot," Tai said. "He'll make a mistake somewhere down the road, and that will lead us right to him."

"Tai's got the right idea," T.K. said. "Stay positive."

"If I might make a suggestion," Ken said. The team all stopped walking to listen. "We can cover ground faster if we split up. Two new Digidestend take two original Digidestend, and we search high and low. We can alert the others with the D-Terminal."

"Sounds a little dangerous, but we don't have any other choice," Tai said. "Davis and Ken, Take Mimi and Matt. T.K. and Cody, take Joe and Izzy. Kari and Yolie, Sora and I are coming with you." Each of the team members and their digimon got with who they were assigned with. "Okay. Lets move out."

The 12 of them went in separate directions in search of Ogremon.

Matt walked along with his arms crossed. "Why didn't Tai put Sora with me?"

"Maybe he's worried about you trying to make a move on her when you should be worried about our mission," Palmon said.

"Worried that she's not here to protect you?" Mimi said.

Matt clenched his fist. "Why is everybody picking on _me_!"

"Matt, calm down!" Gabumon said.

Davis and Veemon both laughed at how Mimi made fun of Matt. It was the first time either of them had laughed in considerable time. If felt good to finally loosen up and laugh again. Davis was almost glad that he wasn't leader any more. It allowed him to goof off more. Which was what he always wanted. Now, nobody criticized or corrected him when he goofed off. It was wonderful.

The four humans and digimon continued to walk on in search of Ogremon.

T.K. and Cody led Joe and Izzy on their journey to find Ogremon.

"Say, what do we do if we find Ogremon and he has a Mega with him?" Tentomon asked no one in particular.

"We call in for back up," T.K. said.

"What if they are chasing us?" Joe said.

"Don't worry, guys," T.K. said. "We'll be fine. Ogremon can't do a darn thing to us."

"You sure are full of confidence," Izzy said.

"I'm the leader now. I have to be confident."

"You have a point," Izzy said as he played around on his laptop. _Tai sure made a gutsy move letting them do this, but it looks like it paid off. I'll never doubt him again._

"Izzy," Cody said, "Is there anyway you could use your laptop to locate Ogremon?"

Izzy thought about Cody's question for a moment. "I don't think that would be possible. I might could, but it would be like finding a needle in a haystack."

"In the time it took for him to pull that off, we could have found Ogremon the old fashioned way," Joe said.

"Yeah, I say we're better off just looking around for him," Gomamon added.

"I just hope we do find him before he kills those other two digimon," Aramdillomon said.

"Now what kind of attitude is that?" T.K. said. "We _ARE_ going to find him before that."

_Yup, I'm never doubting any decision Tai makes again. I feel like I could take down Ogremon by myself._ Izzy thought.

They all continued to wander around looking for their target.

The team of Kari, Yolei, Tai, and Sora searched walked along in deadly silence. Nobody had spoken a word since Tai ordered the teams together.

"Tai," Agumon whispered in Tai's ear. "You only brought Sora along because of how you feel about her."

Tai slapped Agumon on the back of the head. "Shut up!" Tai said quietly as he looked to see if the others had seen him hit Agumon.

Agumon rubbed the back of his head. "So you admit it?"

"No! It was an accident."

"Whatever you say."

Tai wasn't sure if Agumon was being sarcastic or if he believed what he had said. The four teens and digimon continued to walk on in silence.

"I wonder what's up with T.K.," Kari finally broke the silence.

"All you ever think about is T.K.!" Yolei said.

"Do not!"

"Oh, do I detect a possible romance forming?" Sora said.

"You should know since you possess the Crest of Love," Biyomon added.

"I do _not_ like T.K.!" Kari said.

"Then why does he walk you home from school every day?" Yolei responded.

"T.K. walks her home every day?" Sora said.

"Yup! Every single day. Has for close to a year."

"Come on, girls," Gatomon said. "Cut her some slack."

"You are always hanging out with Patamon, Gatomon," Hawkmon said. "I don't think you have much room to talk."

Gatomon flashed her fangs at Hawkmon. "You know, I always wanted to have roasted bird for dinner."

"Settle down, children!" Tai said. "We're all family here. No fights."

"We're not fighting," Sora told Tai. "We're trying to lighten the mood by teasing each other."

"That's fine. But maybe you're over doing it a little?"

"Yeah, I guess I did. I'm sorry, Kari."

"That's fine," Kari replied.

"So, how do you really feel about T.K.?"

Kari thought about the question for a moment. "We're just friends, nothing more. It would ruin our friendship if we pursued a relationship."

_Bull! Matt and Sora were friends and they got together._ Tai thought. _You and T.K. are made for each other. No matter what anyone says, you can have a romantic relationship even if you are friends. That just makes it easier because you already know each other some._

"Are you sure you two are just friends? You sure are close," Sora said.

"Yes I'm sure," Kari laughed.

"So, what did T.K. say to Davis yesterday?" Yolei asked Kari.

Kari went on to explain what happened between T.K. and Davis the previous afternoon.

The 12 Digidestend and digimon all met back up near where they had split up to begin with.

"Anybody see any sign of Big Green?" Tai asked. The team answered with a collective 'no'. "Well, it's not over yet."

"Yeah. We can still stop Ogremon. And we will," T.K. said.

"We have the best two leaders anybody could hope for," Kari said.

Tai scratched the back of his neck while T.K. turned a deep shade of red.

"What say you-" Tai began. Before he could finish, a loud scream was heard from afar. "I think we found our man. Or freak in this case. Charge!"

The Digidestend followed Tai to the source of the scream, knowing it was Ogremon attacking another digimon. It was stop him now, of fail and let Ogremon revive Devimon.


	11. Rescuing the Innocent

You guys are the greatest. I thought this story was going to be the worst ever when I first started it. Thank all of you for your reviews.

Disclaimer: That's right, I own Digimon... Not! I can dream, though.

************

The Digidestend raced as fast as they could. They knew it was put up or shut up time. The fate of both worlds fell upon their shoulders once again. They ran to a clearing in the deep forest where they found Ogremon. He had not one, but two Gomamon cornered.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Gomamon said. "He's messin' with my brothers!"

"If we don't stop him, they won't be the only one's he messes with," Tai said. "Everybody, Digivolve!"

The digimon did as they were told and Digivolved. T.K.'s team's digimon also DNA Digivolved. Ogremon heard the racket and turned around to see what it was.

"Ah, witnesses for the second coming of the all-powerful Devimon! What a delight!" Ogremon said very nonchalantly. "Pummel Whack!" Ogremon attacked one of the Gomamon, instantly killing it. "I claim his life in the name of the great Devimon!"

The team watched in disbelief.

"Great, now he only has one more to go," Davis said.

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" T.K. said. "Lets get in there and stop him!"

"Positron Laser!" ImperialDramon fired the large laser on his back at Ogremon.

"You think you're hot huh?" Ogremon said. He chanted something, and suddenly, a large force field came up. ImperialDramon's attack hit the field. Ogremon laughed evily.

"How the hell did he do that!?" Tai cursed.

"Obviously, he's been practicing his magic," Mimi said.

"This is no time for jokes!" Joe said. "Ogremon's being protected by that wall, and we can't get back there to stop him from killing that other Gomamon. Then he will have all 100 digimon souls needed to bring back Devimon!"

"That force field can't be indestructible," T.K. said. "I reckon that if all our digimon hit it at the same time, it will fall down."

"It's worth a try," said Tai. "Greymon!"

"I heard ya," Greymon said. "All right, everybody, lets do it." Greymon heard a collective 'Yeah!' from the others.

All nine digimon fired their attacks the the force field. They all exploded on contact, but the field still stood.

"Damn!" Davis cursed. "It's still up."

Meanwhile, Ogremon was playing cat and mouse with the other Gomamon behind the force field. He was getting ever closer to killing it.

"Hold on, brother!" Ikkaumon said. "We save you some how."

"Hit the force field again," Izzy said. "Like T.K. said, it can't stay up forever."

The digimon fired their attacks at the force field again. This time, a small hole was made.

"Look, we made a gap," Sora said.

"Yeah, but our digimon are all too big to fit through it," Yolei said.

"Wait, what if the force field is only a few feet tall?" Ken said.

"Yeah, we could go over it instead of through it!" Tai said.

"Allow me," Birdramon said as she flew up.

"I'll come with you," ImperialDramon said.

The two digimon flew up into the air. Thew went up 30 yards in the air. To their surprise, the force field stretched all the way up there.

"What do we do?" ImperialDramon said.

"Go higher," Birdramon said.

They flew up even higher. This time, they cleared the height of the field.

"There's the end of it," ImperialDramon said.

Birdramon and ImperialDramon glided back down to the ground. Ogremon had hit Gomamon a few time, and he was now battle scared.

"Please, don't kill me!" the Gomamon said.

"Sorry, this awful world is in desperate need of a real ruler," Ogremon said.

Gomamon continued to run with Ogremon in hot pursuit. Birdramon and ImperialDramon flew down into the path of Ogremon, blocking him from reaching the Gomamon.

"That's my Birdramon!" Sora cheered.

"Outta my way, bitches!" Ogremon taunted.

"Positron Laser!"

"Meteor Wing!"

Birdramon and ImperialDramon fired their attacks at Ogremon. Ogremon blocked Birdramon's attack with his club, then jumped out of the way of ImperialDramon's attack.

"You couldn't hit the broad side of a Whamon!" Ogremon taunted again.

Gomamon hid behind Birdramon and ImperialDramon, scared out of his mind. The rest of the Digidestend's digimon continued to assault Ogremon's force field with their attacks. They were finally starting to make some progress.

T.K. picked up a rock and threw it at the field. "I'll bring this thing down myself if I have to!"

Finally, the digimon blew a hole in the field big enough to let them all get through.

"There, we finally got that bitch!" Matt said.

The digimon charged through the gap in the field and formed a loose line with Birdramon and ImperialDramon.

"Surrender!" Greymon demanded.

"I would rather eat my own crap than surrender to you jackoffs!" Ogremon spat back.

"Have it your way," Garurumon said.

The digimon prepared to attack Ogremon, but before they could, Ogremon used his smoke trick from before to escape.

"That damn bastard got away again!" Yolei cursed.

"At least we stopped him from getting to 100 souls," Tai said.

The digimon all de-evolved back into their rookie forms, except for Gatomon.

"Why was he trying to kill me?" the Gomamon said. "Why did he kill my brother?" he started to tear up.

"Don't be sad, brother," Joe's Gomamon said. "He'll be reborn in the Primary Village someday."

The other Gomamon sobbed quietly. "Why did he want to kill me? He said something about Devimon."

"Basically, he is trying to revive Devimon by taking the lives of 100 digimon in the name of Devimon," Izzy said.

"How could he do that?"

"An ancient digimon legend," Ken said.

"Why would he want to revive Devimon? He was the most evil tyrant ever."

"You heard how he talked," Joe's Gomamon said. "We thought he had become a good guy, but I guess he decided to go back to his old, evil ways. And to think, we fought Piedmon together five years ago."

"I see," the other Gomamon said, his gaze fixed on the ground. "Do you think he will come after me again?"

"He needs one more digimon sould to reach 100," Izzy said,

"Yes," Ken said. "He will attack any digimon weaker than he is to achieve this. You are still in danger."

"He will!? Oh no!" the Gomamon started to hyper ventilate.

"Calm down, brother," Joe's Gomamon said. "We'll protect you."

"If I were you, I would go some place far away from here," Tai said. "The father you get from him, the safer you will be."

"He's right," Biyomon said. "Run as far as you can."

The other Gomamon sobbed one more time and nodded. "Okay, thank you all for saving me. I owe you all my life. I just wish my friend were still here."

"No thanks necessary," T.K. said.

"Yeah, we're happy to help," said Patamon.

The Gomamon turned and started running. It wasn't long before he was out of sight.

"Well, today wasn't a total failure," Izzy said.

"Yeah it was," Cody said. "That poor Gomamon got destroyed."

"It's okay, Cody," T.K. reassured his friend. "He will come back at the Primary Village soon. Plus, we made a new friend today."

"I hadn't thought about that."

Kari couldn't help but smile. T.K. was turning out to be a wonderful leader. He was there to pick up his team mates when they needed it the most. Even better, Davis seemed to like being out of the leader position. Everything was working out great now. The only thing left was to stop Ogremon. Then this crazy ride would be over.

"Come on, gang, lets look for Ogremon some more," Tai said.

"Shouldn't we get home?" Matt asked his tall-haired friend.

"It's Friday. We can tell our parents that we stayed at the resturant longer because it's the weekend."

"Yeah, and then we can stay here in the Digital World all day tomorrow," T.K. said.

"Tai," Agumon said. "I don't want to pop your bubble, but all of us digimon are tired. If we find Ogremon, we might be too tired to Digivolve."

"Okay, we'll go to Gennai's house and rest for a while," Tai responded. "Then we go after Ogremon again. How does that sound?"

Agumon canvased the other digimon before answering. "Yeah, that sound perfect."

The Digidestend started making their way back to Gennai's house, carefully watching their backs for a jump attack from Ogremon.

"So, what was that force field thing Ogremon used to keep us from getting to us?" Davis asked no one in particular.

"Some new tactic he is employing," Izzy said.

"Yeah, but since when can he do that?"

"Let me check my digimon analyzer and see if it says anything about Ogremon being able to generate force fields."

"Notice how he didn't call for help while we were fighting him?" Yolei said.

"Yeah, that's right," Kari said. "He tried to fight us all by himself the whole time."

"Maybe he ran out of digimon willing to help him out?" said Joe.

"I hope so," said Matt. "I'm tired of him crying 'uncle!' and killing the digimon he's targeting while we are tied up with his henchmen."

"According to the analyzer, Ogremon does not possess any ability to generate a force field," Izzy said.

"Then what was that back there?" Tai asked.

"I don't know. Maybe Gennai will."

"We'll have to make sure to ask him when we get there," said Mimi.

"I hope he can't do it any more," said Gabumon. "If he does, we might not be able to stop him when he attacks another digimon."

"Yeah," Hawkmon said. "Then he will have all 100 digimon souls he needs to summon Devimon."

"Don't panic, we can still stop him," T.K. said. "We beat MaloMyotismon, a super powerful Mega level. Ogremon is nothing compared to him."

Silence fell upon the team. They walked on not saying anything until they reached the lake that contained Gennai's house. The water pulled back revealing the stairs, and the Digidestend made their way down to the house. The humans and digimon all found a comfortable place to stop and rest so the could continue to hunt Ogremon.

T.K. walked up to Gennai and said, "Gennai, I need to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"We ran into Ogremon while we were out."

"I know."

"Well, he cast some kind of spell or something while we were fighting him. It raised some kind of force field that we couldn't get around. He had his targets all to himself while we were trapped outside blasting the field trying to get to him."

"A force field you say?"

"Yeah. Izzy checked his digimon analyzer to see if he had an ability that would let him do that, but it said he had none."

Gennai walked into the next room and sat down at his computer. "Let me look into this." He typed several keys. "Did he do anything, or say anything to do this?"

"Yeah, we heard him chant something, then the field came up."

Gennai typed more on the keyboard. "Oh, I see what he did."

"What?"

"It's another ancient legend."

"How in the heck does he keep finding all of these legends?"

"It's of no importance. What matters is that you stop him and prevent the revival of Devimon. Once you stop him, I'm sure he won't be able to find any more of these ancient legends."

T.K.'s eyes bulged. "You don't think we're going to have to kill him, do you?"

Gennai crossed his arms. "I don't see any other way. If you just stop him, what's to prevent him from trying it again. If you kill him, he won't be around to do his evil works."

T.K. sighed. He didn't want to destroy Ogremon. But Gennai was right. If they didn't, Ogremon would just do all this over again. Just then, Tai walked in. Gennai and T.K. both looked up at him.

"There you are, Gennai," said Tai.

"Need something?"

"Yeah, I wanted to tell you that Ogremon didn't call in any help."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We think he ran out of digimon willing to help him."

"Excellent. Now, there will nothing standing in between you and Ogremon."

"What are you two doing in here?"

"I told Gennai about that force field," T.K. said.

"It looks like Ogremon has found another legend."

"Where does he find this stuff?" Tai said as he scratched his head.

"I dunno," T.K. said. "But he better find another one that will stop us, because when we find him next, he's as good as dead."

The Digidestend stayed and rested for a while longer, and then made their way back up to the surface.

"Well, what do we do now?" Kari asked.

The group stood in thought for a moment.

"I know a way to get him out of hiding, but none of you are going to like it," Tai said.

"You have a plan? Tell us," Matt said. "We're completely out of time at this point."

"We could have one of our digimon Digivolve to Champion and back several times until he reverted back to their in-training level. Then, we reuse Ken's idea of challenging him to a test of strength and say that our digimon is the one who wants to fight him. Ogremon will be too head up to refuse, plus he will think it will be an easy kill to finish collecting souls. Then, we charge in with all our digimon and we jump him."

Tai looked at how his plan sounded to the others. They did not look thrilled.

"Great plan, but it's way to dangerous," said Sora.

"What if Ogremon comes with helpers?" Biyomon asked.

"If Ogremon really is out of digimon willing to help him, then we don't need to worry about that," Tai answered.

"As much as I hate this plan, we have to use it," Izzy chimed in. "We can't just sit around and hope we get lucky and catch him. We need to take action. Now."

The rest of the Digidestend agreed, although reluctantly.

"Where should we try this?" T.K. asked.

"Some place where there aren't any other digimon around," Ken said. "We have made that mistake one time too many. This way, it will just be us and Ogremon."

"I know a real good place like that," Patamon said.

"Oh yeah? Where?" Yolie asked.

"Right here. I don't see any digimon. It's out of the way, inconspicuous, exactly what we need."

"Yeah, I guess it is," said Izzy.

"All right. It's settled," Tai said.

The Digidestend all nodded.

************

The Digidestend found a spot near Gennai's house, but not right next to it. This way, they could make a hasty getaway if the need arose. It was essential that Ogremon not find out where Gennai's house was, but even if he did, it would be impossible for him to reach it. The Digidestend waited patiently for Ogremon to arrive. This was finally going to be the end.

"Ah man! I don't wanna stay here and wait for that idiot all day!" Davis moaned.

"Suck it up, you wuss!" Kari said. Davis started pouting.

"Run us through that plan of yours again, Tai," Sora asked his tall-haired friend.

"We can get one of our digimon to Digivolve backwards. Then, we go spread rumors that the In-Training digimon wants to challenge Ogremon, Just like Ken's plan. He will be insulted and will jump through his ass hole to kill the digimon to get up to 100 souls."

"That's a very dangerous, very gutsy, very bold plan," Sora told Tai. "Just like something you would come up with."

Tai laughed. "You know me all to well." _Too bad you don't know how much I love you._

"Who's the digimon going to be?" Joe asked.

"I will!" Agumon said and stepped forward.

"You sure, buddy?" Tai asked.

"If it will stop Ogremon, yes, I am."

"So how do we get him to go back to Koromon?" T.K. asked.

"Make him Digivole and revert several times," Tai answered.

"You know he won't be able to Digivolve if we do that," Izzy told Tai.

"I know. But we have a chance to end this. We have to take it."

"He's right," said T.K. "Innocent digimon are going to die if Devimon is revived. We have to end this, however we can."

"Alright. I better start Digivolving, huh?" Agumon said.

"Yeah," said Tai.

Agumon started Digivolving and then going back to rookie form for over an hour while T.K. and his team all went to spread the word that Koromon wanted to fight Ogremon to determine who was stronger.

************

How about a little contest? I will name the next chapter after whoever posts the 40th review. See you next time.


	12. Killahsese's Chapter

Hello again. Hope you are having a lovely day. This chapter is named after the person who posted the 40th review. Congratulations to killahsese. This originally was two different chapters but I combined them. Get ready, it has over 5,500 words. Have fun!

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.

************

Several minutes had passed since the Digidestend arrived at their ambush spot. T.K. and his team had returned from issuing another challenge to Ogremon, while Mimi had to return to the Real World because of the time difference between Japan and America. The rest of the Digidestend were now waiting for Ogremon to come and meet the challenge given to him by the Digidestend. Agumon had Digivolved to Greymon and back several times, and now had turned into Koromon. The stage was now set for the trap. The Digidestend and their digimon would wait nearby and then jump Ogremon when he least expected it. There would be no resurrection of Devimon. He was doomed to be nothing more than a bad memory nobody wanted to recall. Then this crazy ride would finally be over. The Digidestend could go back to their normal lives again knowing one less evil was wandering around in the Digital World.

Koromon sat in the shade of a tall tree breathing hard from all his Digivolving and reverting back. "I... hope I don't have to do that... ever again. I'm so... Tired"

Tai quietly laughed. "Sorry to have to do this to you."

"Don't worry about it. I'd rather be tired than know Ogremon was going to revive that monster."

"Yeah, me too," Tai replied.

"Think this is going to work?"

"What? Of course it's going to work! Since when have any of my plans ever failed?"

"Good point. Sorry I ever doubted you."

Tai nodded. He looked over and noticed Sora was sitting by herself. _Matt is not hanging all over her?_ This was most unusual. Matt was normally never that far from his pride and joy, Sora. _Could there be something wrong with those two? _Tai pondered what could be the cause of this strange occurrence. He was so caught up in thought, he didn't notice Koromon trying to talk to him.

"TAI!" Koromon exclaimed.

"Huh? Did you say something?

"Yeah. I was asking you if you thought this plan was going to work, but I see you're too caught up staring at your girlfriend over there."

Tai's face turned bright red. "Koromon! Don't sat that where people can hear!"

"Oh, right. Sorry about that. But I couldn't get your attention."

Tai tried again to figure out why Matt wasn't courting Sora. He looked at Sora's facial expression. She looked like she was angry about something. Did she and Matt get into an arguement? Could this be the opportunity that Tai had been waiting so long for?

"Gee," Koromon said. "Sora looks preoccupied."

"What? Oh, yeah. Wonder why?"

"Why don't you go ask her?"

Tai thought about it for a minute. He was thinking he would leave Sora alone, but then thought if Sora and Matt had gotten into a fight, then Tai might be able to help her out. "Okay. I'll go see if something's up." He walked over to where Sora was sitting. "Hey, Sora." Sora acted like she didn't notice Tai. She was gazing off into space, ignoring the world around her. "Sora? Hello?"

Sora finally looked up. "Oh, hey, Tai," she said rather distantly.

"Something bothering you?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"I dunno, it's just, you're acting kinda distant."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

Sora sighed. Her tall-haired friend knew her all too well. "Well..."

"C'mon. You know you can tell me anything."

"It's just... a few minutes ago, Matt did something he shouldn't have."

Tai clenched his fist. "What did he do!?" Tai demanded.

"He thinks our relationship is moving too slow," Sora said slowly. "And, well, he wants us..."

"He wants you to what?"

"He wants to... go all the way."

Tai was shocked. "That... that... bitch!" Tai punched the ground hard. So hard, Sora could feel it shake. "I should ban from the Digital World forever!"

"I told him I wasn't ready for that kind of thing yet. He got mad and said I didn't really love him. I said that he was being to hard to get along with. We got into a huge argument." Sora started to cry a little.

"Man, they sure got it wrong when they gave him the Crest of Friendship!"

"I don't know if I can ever trust him ever again... I don't even know if I can look him in the eye again!" The tears were now falling like rain. Sora cupped her face in her hands.

Tai sat down beside her and gave her a hug. "Shhh. Don't be sad, Sora."

Sora sat in Tai's arms and cried. She wanted to talk, but couldn't find the strength to. All she wanted to do right now was stay right there. Tai's embrace felt so warm and comforting.

"Sora?" Biyomon said walking up. "Huh... What's wrong?"

"It's... nothing..." Sora said, barely audible.

"Matt hurt her feelings," Tai said.

"What did he do?" Biyomon asked puzzled.

"I... really don't... wanna talk about it," Sora answered.

"Sora..."

"I'll tell you... later, Biyomon."

Tai laid Sora's head on his shoulder and started running his hand through her hair. "It's okay."

Sora slowly stopped crying. "Thank you," Sora said, very softly.

"Please don't be sad, Sora," Biyomon said.

"You guys are the best," Sora said. "I am so blessed to have friends like you. Thank God for you guys." Sora pulled away and wiped her eyes.

Tai dawned a huge smirk. "Better get ready. Ogremon could be here at any time."

Sora sobbed again. "Yeah. Can't go into the battle like this."

Tai patted Sora on the shoulder and walked back to Koromon.

"Find out what was bothering her?" Koromon asked.

"Yeah," Tai answered rather cryptic.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me what it was?"

"Later."

"Something bad wasn't it?"

"Give it rest already, Koromon!"

"Gee, excuse me for worrying about one of my comrades!"

"Sorry. It's just... she told me something that made my blood boil."

"Oh. I see."

"Look, I'll tell you about it. But not right now. Just wait until later. 'Kay?"

"Okay."

The conversation between the two ended there. They spent the rest of their time waiting for Ogremon to show up. Meanwhile, T.K. was leaning up against a tree, trying to get out of the unrelenting sun. It was like the hottest day of summer out there. He was going over the memories of when he first ended up in the Primary Village. The memories of Patamon and Elecmon fighting rushed though his head. He silently laughed thinking about those old memories. Now, the grim thought of having Patamon face Devimon again reared its ugly head. T.K.'s thoughts were then interrupted by Kari.

"T.K.," She said as she walked up.

"Yeah," T.K. responded.

"I just wanted to say, I think you becoming our leader is the best thing that ever happened to us."

T.K. blushed a deep shade of red. "Gee... uh... thanks."

"I mean it, T.K. Things are better now than they ever have been before."

T.K. looked away to try and hide his blush. "You really think so?"

"Yeah, I do. Davis seems happier now that he's not the leader any more. And our morale is soaring so high under your leadership."

No matter how hard he tried, T.K. couldn't shake his intense blush. "I'm flattered, Kari. Thank you."

"No, thank you, T.K." If it was at all possible, T.K.'s blush deepened. Kari noticed this and said, "Am I making you nervous?"

"What!? No! It's just..."

Kari laughed at her blonde friend's behavior. "Because I'm a girl?"

"I... uh..."

Kari laughed some more. "What's the matter, you don't like me anymore?"

T.K. was about to say something, but Patamon showed up.

"What're you two doing?" Patamon said.

"Nothing!" T.K. said defensively.

"I was just telling T.K. how wonderful a job he has done as the new leader," Kari said.

"Oh," Patamon said. "I came to tell you Gatomon is looking for you, Kari."

"Okay, I'll be right there." With that Patamon nodded flew away.

"I'm sorry I made you hate me," T.K. said.

"What? Oh, T.K., I was teasing you."

T.K. looked up at Kari with a shocked but relieved expression. "You were?"

"Yes. It helps to lighten up the mood." T.K. wiped his brow. "I'll see you around T.K.," Kari said and walked off to find Gatomon.

Off in the distance, Gatomon and Patamon observed their handy work. They had put Kari up to talking to T.K. Neither one of them could seem to stop smiling and ear-to-ear smile.

"Ah, teen romance," Patamon said. "Doesn't that just look... beautiful?"

"Yeah..." Gatomon said. "I love love stories."

"Me too."

Gatomon and Patamon both started looking at each other. They both looked away quickly as their faces turned a deep shade of red.

"Uh... Gatomon?" Patamon said nervously.

Gatomon slowly trained her head on Patamon. "Yeah?"

"Do you... like me?" Patamon said quickly.

"I uh... I..."

"I see... Sorry I asked..."

"I... I do!"

Patamon's eyes grew very wide. "Huh?"

"I don't just like you, I love you! We've known each other for a long time. I know everything about you. Patamon, I love you!" Patamon couldn't believe his ears. Had he gone insane? "If you're creeped out, I understand."

"Why would I be creeped out?" Gatomon's eyes got bigger than Patamon's. "Truth is... I love you, too!"

Gatomon and Patamon sat there and stared at each other. Just then, Kari walked up.

"There, I did it. Will you get off my back now?" she said. She noticed Gatomon and Patamon staring intently at each other. "Is... there something I need to know about?"

Gatomon and Patamon both snapped back to reality. "Huh?" they said in unison. Kari started laughing very hard.

"Kariitsnotwhatyouthink!" Gatomon blurted.

"Oh, really?" Kari dawned an evil look upon her face.

"Gee, look at the time! I think I should be going now!" Patamon said and flew away as fast as he could.

Kari looked at Patamon flying faster then she had ever seen him fly before and then fixed her gaze back on Gatomon, the look on her face very sinister.

"Ah, rats..." Gatomon muttered.

Meanwhile, T.K. stood by the tree where Kari talked to him. _Why did I act like that around her? She's my friend, I don't have to act like were strangers._ T.K. thought. _Could it be... no... I'm just fooling myself. But she acted like... Oh, come on, Takeru! Stop thinking about this!_ T.K. retook his place leaning up against the tree. _Am I... am I falling for her?_ T.K. shook his head to try and get rid these thoughts. However, they would not go away. _Maybe I should ask somebody about this. I know! Matt will know all about this. I will go ask him._

T.K. looked around for Matt. He was unusually hard to find. Normally, you could find him quite easily. Finally, he found his older brother. He was pacing, his gaze fixed on the ground.

"C'mon, Matt!" Gabumon said. "Tell me what's bothering you!"

"Gabumon, how many times do I have to tell you that there's nothing bothering me!?" Matt exclaimed.

Gabumon put his hands up in front of him in defense. "Okay, okay! I won't ask you anymore."

Matt looked up and noticed T.K. was standing there. "Hey, Teeks," He said quickly.

_Strange how Sora isn't here._ "Something wrong?"

"No! Why would there ever be anything wrong!?"

"Gee, sorry I asked."

"Do you need something?"

"Yeah. I need to ask you, Mr. Girl Expert, about something to do with a girl."

"Never, ever, ever mess with them! Trying to talk to them or even reason with them is a total waste of time!"

T.K. tilted his head to the side in confusion. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm saying, don't waste your time with the opposite sex."

T.K. scratched his head. "Uh, right. Whatever you say." With that, T.K. walked away from Matt uneasily. _What's eating him? Did something happen between him and Sora or something? _he thought. _I guess it's none of my business. Well, who do I ask about this now?_ T.K. thought about it for a minute. _I guess I could talk to Tai. He is like a second big brother to me after all._ _Yeah, that's what I'll do._

T.K. went and found Tai and Koromon. Tai appeared to have a scowl on his face. "Look, it's T.K.," he said.

"Hey Tai. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Alone?"

Tai looked puzzled, but walked with T.K. away from earshot of Koromon none the less. "All right. What do you need, Teeks?"

"Well, there's this girl..."

"Oh really!? Look at the little boy starting to turn into man!" Tai teased.

"Tai!" T.K. whined.

"Sorry. How could I resist that, though?"

T.K. ignored Tai's teasing and said, "Anyway, about this girl."

"Yeah?"

"I'm not sure, but I think I'm beginning to like her."

"My, how you have grown. I still remember that time you told me that you thought girls were icky back in our first adventure."

"Maybe I shouldn't talk about this now."

"Okay, I promise not to tease you anymore. You think you're beginning to like her. And?"

"And, I have a strong feeling that she likes me, too. So what should I do?"

"Ask her out."

T.K. blushed at the thought of he and Kari in a romantic relationship. "Well, she's my best friend. Won't that ruin our friendship?"

"Of course not! If you ask me, it makes it better. That way, you already have something to build on. My parents were best friends, you know."

"Really? Huh... I see... I'll have to think about it."

"So, who is this lucky girl?" Tai already knew T.K. was talking about Kari, but wanted to have some fun with him.

"I think I'm gonna keep that under wraps for the time being."

"Tell you what; you tell me who you like, and I'll tell you who I like."

"Deal!" T.K. said straight away. He was very interested in knowing who Tai had eyes for.

"Well, who is it?"

"Well, I hope you won't kill me for this. It's... It's..."

"Quit stalling! We made a deal, now honer it!"

"It's... Kari!"

Tai laughed. "'Bout damn time you admitted it!"

T.K. was shocked. "You mean--"

"Yup. I've know for a long time now."

"Is it really that obvious?"

"No. I've just seen the way Kari looks at you and the way she acts around you. Your body language is too easy to read, too."

"Think anyone else knows?"

"They might suspect it, but I doubt it."

T.K. crossed his arms. "All right, you promised. Who do _you_ like?" T.K. completely demanded.

"Oh man, the fun is over now," Tai moaned. "It's Sora."

T.K.'s eyes grew wide. "Sora!"

Tai put his hand over T.K.'s mouth. "Hush! This is a secret between us, remember."

"I knew you and she were close, but I didn't think you were head over heels for her. Does Matt know about this?"

"I don't think so."

"What about Sora?"

"Maybe."

"Man, this must be real hard on you. The love of your life is dating your best friend."

"Yeah, you have no idea what this is like. I want to be with Sora, but I don't want to risk damaging the group because of my selfishness. I don't want them to have a messy break up like they are right now, either."

"What?"

Tai suddenly realized what he said and hit himself on the head. "I'm an idiot!"

"Matt and Sora broke up?"

"I wouldn't say they are broke up yet, but it's close."

"What happened?"

"Matt wants to move faster than Sora wants to, and they got into a fight."

"Move faster?"

"He wants to... you know."

"Oh... Oh!" T.K. stumbled backward. "He wants to..."

"Yeah. And I want to kill him for hurting her feelings."

"Is she okay?"

"She's holding up. I just hope this won't tear them apart. Or lead to problems in the team. We've had enough of those."

"Yeah..."

"Promise me you say anything about this. Sora trusts me with this."

"Of course I'm gonna keep my mouth shut. I would never reveal anything like that. Ever."

"Thanks..."

The two teens stood there in silence for a moment.

"How long are you two going to talk?" Koromon said and he approached.

"How long have we been talking?" T.K. asked.

"I don't know. I got caught up in the conversation," Tai answered.

"Quit yappin', and lets go wait for Ogremon," Koromon said and hopped away.

"So," T.K. said.

"So?"

"You would be okay with me dating your sister?"

"Yeah. You're the only person I trust to be with her. You two are made for each other."

T.K. smirked and blushed at the same time.

"Better go wait for ole Big Green before Koromon has a cow," Tai said.

The two of them walked over to the others to go and wait for Ogremon to show up.

_Just ask her out? That's all? Sounds so simple. _T.K. thought._ Does she really feel the same way? Tai did say she looks at me funny. Maybe this could work out._

"Where is this fool who wants to contest my might!?" the Digidestend could hear Ogremon approaching.

"There he is. Lets get into position," Tai said. "Ready Koromon?"

"Yeah!" Koromon replied.

The Digidestend and their digimon went to hide while Koromon waited in plane view for Ogremon. The Digidestend took cover in the shadows while Koromon sat and waited for Ogremon. The sound of him approaching grew louder and louder.

"This is it. We're gonna end all this right here, right now," said Tai. Good Lord, please be with Koromon.

Koromon sat out in plain view, awaiting his adversary. Every second that past made him more nervous. Here he was, one In-training digimon, about to face off with a digimon more than three times his size. Although he was confident, Koromon couldn't help but be scared. What if the others got there too late to save him? What they failed again some how? Those thoughts were quickly erased as Ogremon appeared in the clearing where the ambush was to take place.

"Someone want to challenge me?" Ogremon said, ever so nonchalantly.

"Y-yeah, down here!" Koromon replied.

Ogremon heard Koromon speak, but didn't see him at first. He looked around for a moment trying to find the fool dumb enough to think he could be the almighty Ogremon.

"Oh, come on! I'm not that short!" Koromon shouted.

Ogremon finally caught on and saw Koromon down below him. "This is it? This little dummy wants to fight me?"

"Well... I brought some friends with me to help fight you."

"That's our cue! Lets go!" Tai ordered.

The Digidestend all charged out of hiding and attacked Ogremon from behind. Ogremon turned around just in time to see the Digidestend and their digimon coming at him. Ikkakumon ran up and scratched the life out of Ogremon's back. Ogremon fell over and convulsed in pain. Koromon took this oppertunity to run back to the others. He ran up to Tai and hopped into his arms.

"Your mission to bring Devimon ends today!" ImerialDramon said. "Positron laser!" The attack hit Ogremon dead on.

Ogremon's eyes got wide, and he shouted out in agony. He slowly was destroyed. His left over data harmlessly floated away into the sky.

"That's it?" Davis said. "I was expecting a real fight or something like that."

"Something's not right here..." Izzy trailed off.

"Yeah, it's like he wasn't even trying," ImperialDramon said.

Suddenly, something tall, green, and ugly raced up to Tai and Koromon. Tai ducked just in time to dodge Ogremon's club. He landed hard and dropped Koromon.

"I'll be! Ogremon anticipated we would try to ambush him and sent a decoy in ahead of him!" Izzy said.

Ogremon lifted his hand up and raised a force field up around Tai and Koromon, trapping them inside with him. "Reach 100 souls and kill the partner of a Digidestend all at once. It doesn't get any better!" Ogremon laughed.

"He beat out trap with a trap of his own," Ken said.

"Everybody who can fly, get up there and find the top!" T.K. ordered. "We have to get in there and stop him!"

Birdramon, ImperialDramon and Silphymon all flew up and looked for the top of the force field.

Tai got up and shielded Koromon from Ogremon. "You're not killing my digimon, you freak!"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you don't get a say in the matter," Ogremon said.

The digimon found the top of Ogremon's force field. "Here it is," ImperialDramon said. He and the other two were about to drop though the top, but ran into another wall. "What?"

"He put another force field wall up in the top so we wouldn't be able to get inside like last time!" Birdramon said.

"Then what do we do?" Silphymon asked.

"If we can go through it, and we can't go over it, how 'bout we try going under it?" ImperialDramon said.

"That's it! He won't have a force field on the ground," said Birdramon.

Ogremon closed in on Tai and Koromon. Tai had not budged from his spot in front of Koromon even though Ogremon kept walking toward them.

"I was going to kill you after your digimon, but if you want to go now, that's fine," Ogremon taunted.

"Even if you kill me, the others will stop you!" Tai said defiantly.

Birdramon, Silphymon and ImperialDramon all dropped back down to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Yolie said.

"He put a wall up at the top so we can't get in from up there," Silphymon explained. "But he won't have a wall down on the ground."

"Brilliant!" Izzy said. "Garurumon, start digging."

"Right!" Garurumon said. He started digging into the ground next to the force field. He had made a large hole in a short amount of time.

"Faster, Ogremon's closing in on Tai and Koromon!" T.K. said.

"Let me help!" Ikkakumon said as he started digging with Garurumon.

"Digmon would be a big help here," Cody said.

"Good idea, Cody," said T.K. "Shakkoumon, revert back. We need Digmon."

Shakkoumon did as he was told and reverted back to Armadillomon and Patamon.

"Ready, Armadillomon?" Cody asked.

"Yup. Armadillomon, Armor Digivolve to... Digmon."

Digmon run up to where Ikkakumon and Garurumon were digging. "Move over, amatures. Let the master handle this."

Garurumon and Ikkakumon moved over and Digmon got into the hole they had started and began digging.

"Patamon, you better Digivolve," T.K. said.

"Patamon, Digivolve to... Angemon."

Ogremon was now close enough to touch Tai and Koromon. "Which one of you wants to go first?"

"Screw you!" Tai cursed.

Ogremon growled in anger and took a swing at Tai and Koromon with his club. Tai grabbed Koromon and Jumped out of the way just in time. Tai backed up against one of the walls of the force field.

Digmon had now burrowed through the ground and came out inside of the force field. "The way is clear. Come on up."

The digimon all made their way through the hole.

"Howling Blaster!" Garurumon shot at Ogremon's back, scoring a direct hit.

Ogremon fell over and dropped his club. He looked behind and noticed the digimon had all made it inside the force field. "Wha...? How did you get inside here? I sealed the top..."

"Smile!" ImperialDramon said and fired his laser at Ogremon. Ogremon grabbed his club then jumped up and dodged the attack. The attack landed near Tai and Koromon.

"Be more careful. You almost hit Tai," Silphymon told ImperialDramon.

"Oops..."

Ogremon now was facing off with the other digimon. "This isn't fair!" he moaned.

"What you did to those other 99 digimon wasn't fair. You're getting exactly what you deserve!" Angemon responded.

"Can't you see that I'm trying to do the Digital World a favor?"

"Favor my ass," Digmon muttered.

Tai took advantage of Ogremon focusing his attention on the others and made a break for the hole Garurumon, Ikkakumon and Digmon had made. He jumped down in it and escaped the force field.

"NO!" Ogremon shouted when he saw Tai escape with Koromon. Tai popped up on the other side and stuck his tongue out. "Bitch..." Ogremon muttered.

"Forgetting something, aren't you?" ImperialDramon taunted Ogremon.

"Go to hell!"

"You first. Positron Laser!" ImperialDramon fired at Ogremon, but missed as Ogremon jumped into the air.

"He won't get away that easy," Ogremon said and raised his hand. Like magic, the force field disappeared. Ogremon landed down near where the Digidestend had been watching the battle take place inside the force field.

"Damn!" Tai shouted. Ogremon was now right next to him again.

"Hand of Fate" Angemon fired his attack at Ogremon. Ogremon saw it coming and avoided it. The attack hit dangerously close to the Digidestend, who had to jerk away to avoid it.

"Your own digimon are going to kill you! HAHA!" Ogremon taunted.

"We should run!" said Davis.

"No. We have a chance to end this. We have to take it." said Matt.

Tai started to run from Ogremon. Ogremon completely ignored the rest and chased after Tai and Koromon.

"Doens't he know when to quit!?" Tai said.

ImperialDramon flew off after Ogremon. He flew low to the ground. He outran Ogremon and ran into him, causing him to fall over. Tai ran with all his strength back to the others. The digimon all got in front of him and shielded them from Ogremon. Ogremon raced to catch up to Tai and saw the digimon forming a shield.

"Again, you guys aren't fair," Ogremon said.

"Like he's an expert on what is and what is not fair," Yolei said.

"Quick, somebody get behind him. Make sure he can't run away," Tai ordered.

Silphymon and Angemon both flew behind Ogremon, blocking him in.

"We got him this time," said Cody.

"No you don't," said Ogremon. He hit the ground with his club, causing the ground to break apart and form a divide. The Digidestend and the digimon were separated on each side. Tai and Koromon were now no longer protected by the digimon. Ogremon jumped high into the air and landed next to Tai and Koromon. "Now that we're done playing around, I claim this digimon in the name of Devimon!"

Ogremon swung his club down at Tai and Koromon. Tai closed his eyes tightly and waited for the blow. Right before Ogremon could hit Tai and Koromon, the Gomamon that they had saved from before ran up from out of no where and jumped between Ogremon and Tai and took the blow. The Gomamon was knocked aside. Tai stood there, wondering why nothing had happened. He opened his eyes and saw what had happened.

"That wasn't what I was aiming for, but I'll sure take it," Ogremon said. "So long, losers!" Ogremon jumped up in the air again and was gone.

The Gomamon laid on the gound badly injured. Tai couldn't believe what he was seeing. He and Koromon were about to die. Then the Gomamon jumped in the way and saved them. The digimon all reverted back to their rookie forms. They all walked up to Gomamon.

"Why... did you do that?" Tai asked.

"You... you saved my life... It... was the least... I could do in... return," Gomamon said, barely audible.

Tai felt aweful. It hurt him bad enough when the Gomamon's friend died, then to see him sacrifice himself to save Tai and Koromon, Tai couldn't hold it back. He started crying. "You... shouldn't have done this..."

"You are... the only one's who can... stop him... I did what I... had to..."

The rest of the Digidestend watched and started to cry as well.

"We won't let you die in vain," Tai said through his tears.

Gomamon smiled. He then passed away. His body turned into data particles and floated away.

"That was so... beautiful," Sora said as she cried. "He died so that we could stop Ogremon."

"I can't believe that Gomamon would do that for us," Kari said.

Even the usually emotionally inept Ken shed a tear or two at the sight of the broken Gomamon.

"I don't want to sound heartless or anything, but we have to stay focused on Ogremon," Tai said. "He has all 100 souls slain in Devimon's name."

The Digidestend all nodded in agreement. They would mourn over the Gomamon's sacrifice later.

"What do we do now?" Joe said.

"Ogremon will have to go to Devimon's palace on the peak of Infinity Mountain on File Island to complete the revival process," Izzy answered.

"Then that's where we are going," Tai said. "I will make sure we stop that monster. What he did here cannot go unpunished."

Kari walked up to her brother and put her hand on his shoulder. "Tai, I know you want renvenge for this. But don't let that cloud your judgement."

"Don't worry, sis. I won't."

T.K. walked up to a nearby T.V. "Come on, we have to hurry if we want to stop him."

"Everybody else go on ahead," Tai said. "I'm going to report to Gennai, then I will join you at File Island.

T.K. nodded. He and the rest of the Digidestend all transported to File Island to confront Ogremon.

************


	13. Back to Where it all Began

Thank you all for 4,000 hits.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

************

"He has all the souls required to revive Devimon?" Gennai asked.

"Yeah," Tai answered. "I'm sure he's about to fall over from fatigue, but I doubt he's going wait to go through with this."

"It's all my fault," Koromon said.

Gennai looked at Koromon and said, "And how is this your fault?"

"I was acting as a decoy to get Ogremon out of hiding. That poor Gomamon died to save me..."

"Come on, Koromon," Tai said.

"I assume the others have gone ahead to File Island?" Gennai asked Tai.

"Yeah. I stopped to report what happened."

"Better be on your way. They will need all the help they can get."

"But, Gennai, I feel way to bad to Digivolve right now," Koromon said.

"I think I have just the thing," Gennai said and walked into his kitchen. He walked back out holding what looked like an apple. "This should do the trick. Eat it, and you should have all the energy in the world."

Tai took the apple from Gennai. "Thanks. I better get to File Island."

"Good luck. I have a feeling that you are going to need it."

Tai nodded and used the portal in Gennai's house to get to File Island.

************

T.K. and the others stood at the foot of Infinity Mountain.

"Somewhere up there, our destiny awaits," T.K. said. Suddenly, the memories from the last adventure here came back to T.K.

Kari walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "It will be okay, T.K. We will stop Ogremon."

T.K. nodded. "Yeah, we will."

Davis watched on in jealousy. He and T.K. were on better terms then they ever had been before, but that didn't stop Davis from still wanting Kari all to himself. Ken elbowed Davis in his side. "Ouch! What did you do that for?"

Ken gave Davis a stern look. "Be a man, Davis. Don't be jealous of those two."

Davis wanted to say something back, but chose not to. _Not worried about the well being of the team... Now I see what he meant._ Davis finally nodded.

Suddenly, Tai and Koromon appeared from the T.V. the others had used to get there. "Honey, sorry I'm late." Tai flashed an ear to ear grin.

Some of the Digidestend laughed at Tai's antics. Especially Sora.

"Count on Tai to lighten up the mood," Sora said, to which Tai's grin got even bigger.

"All right, now that we are all here, we can be on our way," said T.K.

The Digidestend all started the long trip up the mountain to reach Devimon's palace.

"Say, we had the luxury of using the T.V.'s to get here," Yolie said.

"Yeah, and?" said Davis.

"Well, how is Ogremon going to get here?"

"He's a man on a mission, he will find a way to get here from Server," Izzy answered.

"Besides, Kari and I saw him at the Primary Village, which is here on File Island, a few days ago," T.K. said.

Tai scratched his head. "When was that?"

T.K. suddenly realized what he had said, as well as Kari. They both looked at each other, a worried expression on their faces.

"Oooooo! Look at the love birds, going off in the Digital World by themselves!" Joe teased.

T.K. and Kari both started blushing profusely.

"Ain't that cute?" Yolei said jokingly.

"Uh, guys, can we please focus on the mission?" T.K. said. "We kinda have important things to worry about right now."

"I'm with Teeks," Tai said. "And besides, you _don't_ wanna make fun of _my_ sister." The rest of the Digidestend immediately stopped talking. _Good ole death threats. Works every time_. Tai thought and started smiling. T.K. looked at Tai with a 'thank you' expression on his face.

"Hey, Tai," Koromon said.

"What?"

"Don't you think we should use that apple Gennai gave us?"

"Oh, that's right."

"Apple?" Izzy asked.

"Something Gennai gave me to help Koromon," Tai said as he dug the apple out of his pocket.

Koromon ate the apple in one bite. "Wow! I feel like I could do a lap around the world!" He jumped out of Tai's arms and onto the ground. "Koromon, Digivolve to... Agumon!"

"Good to have you back, Agumon," Tai told his orange dinosaur friend.

"Glad to be back," Agumon said.

The Digidestend contiuned to walk up Infinity Mountain in silence. They started psyching themselves up. They had the advantage of just fighting Ogremon. Now he would be tired from before. They all hoped that he would be easier to defeat now because of that. The thought of having anything to do with Devimon again was too much for any of the original Digidestend to handle. The new Digidestend had the luxury of not dealing with him in the last adventure in the Digital World. The older Digidestend had told them stories about the evil Devimon, but they still had no idea about him.

While the Digidestend were walking up the mountain, Matt approached Sora. Sora saw him coming and said, "I have nothing to say to you. Please give me my space."

Matt forced his arm around Sora's shoulder. "Come on, baby. I can't live without you. You can't live without me. If we're apart, then everybody loses."

Sora threw Matt's arm off. "Don't touch me!"

Matt crossed his arms. "So, this is how you treat the love of your life? I see. As of this moment, we are done."

"Boy, am I glad that's over!"

"Something wrong, Sora?" Biyomon asked.

"Yeah, Mister Perfect over there is bothering me."

Biyomon glared at Matt. "What did you do!?"

"Me!? I didn't do anything!" Matt said defensively.

"What are you doing?" Gabumon chimed in.

T.K. took notice of what was going on. "Hey, how about we talk about this _after_ we're done with Ogremon?"

Matt growled. "There's nothing to talk about. Nothing at all. Not anymore."

"Good. Keep it that way," T.K. said sternly. Matt was shocked. T.K. had never done or said anything like that to him before. If he weren't mad right now, he would be proud of his little brother.

Tai poked T.K. in the shoulder. T.K. looked over at Tai. Tai held his fist out to T.K., which T.K. slapped with his fist. "That was a good move on your part," Tai whispered in T.K.'s ear. "You did exactly what you needed to and no more. And you stood up to your older brother in the process. I'm proud of you."

T.K. dawned a large grin. "Thanks," T.K. whispered back.

The Digidestend continued to walk on up Infinity Mountain. An uncomfortable silence was upon the group. They all could feel the tension between Matt and Sora. Nobody dared to say a word, lest they start another confrontation. Tai occasionally glared at Matt along the way. Every time Tai would give Matt a glare, Matt would look at Tai with a 'what did I do?' look on his face.

Suddenly, something burst out of the side of the mountain. When the dust settled down, the Digidestend looked to see what had appeared before them. It was a Phamtomon. "This mountain is mine. None shall pass!"

"Get out of our way, or we'll end your ownership of this mountain!" Tai said.

"Wrong answer! I give you one last chance to turn back."

"We're on a mission, and we're not turning back!" said Davis. "Lets show him who's boss!"

The digimon all Digivolved to their Champion forms.

"We really don't need this," Izzy said. "We need to save our strength for Ogremon."

"And we need to get there in a hurry, too," said Cody.

Phamtomon floated up next to Aquilamon. "Shadow Scythe!" Aquilamon was hit and fell down to the ground and reverted back to Hawkmon.

"Hawkmon!" Yoile shouted.

"We're not strong enough for him at the Champion level," Izzy said.

"Then lets go to Ultimate," T.K. said.

Ankylomon and Angemon DNA Digivolved to Shakkoumon and faced off with Phamtomon. "Chchina Bomb!" Shakkoumon attacked. Phamtomon backed away and dodged the attack.

Shakkoumon charged Phamtomon and punched him. Phamtomon was knocked to the ground. He quickly got back up and swung his scythe at Shakkoumon. Shakkoumon blocked the swing from Phamtomon with his arm, taking some slight damage. Shakkoumon pushed Phamtomon's scythe away and punched him again. Phamtomon was knocked back.

"Cachina Bomb!" Shakkoumon attacked again, scoring a hit this time. Phamtomon was injured badly.

Greymon led a charge with the other Digimon. They all rushed Phamtomon.

"Nova Blast!"

"Meteor Wing!"

"Howling Blaster!"

"Vee Laser!"

"Harpoon Torpedo!"

"Spiking Strike!"

The Champion digimon all landed a hit on Phamtomon at the same time, destroying him instantly. As soon as the battle was over, the digimon all reverted back to their rookie forms.

"That was close," Kari said.

"Yeah, and now our digimon are all tired from fighting that wierdo," Cody said.

"Hawkmon, are you okay?" Yolei asked her partner.

Hawkmon laid in Yolei's arms, breathing hard from getting hit by Phamtomon. "I... will be okay..."

Yolie pulled Hawkmon into a hug. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Yolei. Just be glad we are all okay."

"How you guys holding up?" T.K. asked all the digimon.

Agumon conversed with the other digimon. "We're doing fine."

"Good. We need you to be in good fighting condition for when we see Ogremon."

"Lets keep going. Ogremon could be up there completing the legend as we speak," Tai said. The Digidestend continued their trek up Infinity Mountain.

"Could that Phamtomon have been put there by Ogremon to slow us down?" Joe asked no one in particular.

"I doubt it," Ken replied. "That Phamtomon was acting like he was guarding what he considered 'his mountain.' That would lead me to believe that it was not afiliated with Ogremon."

"There you go with talking like a Vulcan again," Yolei laughed.

"Need we go down that road again?"

"It was just a joke."

"Last time you mentioned that, Davis would not shut up about how I needed to be watching that, and what all I was missing."

"It's not my fault you don't have any tastes," Davis said.

"_Star Trek_ is great and all, but I prefer _Star Wars_ much more," Tai said.

"Tai, I am your father!" Joe teased.

"Very funny, Joe."

The whole team all burst out laughing. Even Tai.

"Who would've thought that the Ewoks would destroy the empire?"

"Well, they didn't necessarily destroy the empire all alone," Izzy said.

"I wanted Han to get on to Lando for breaking that dish of the top of the _Falcon," _Tai said. "It would have been so funny to see Han get all over Lando, and Lando get defensive over breaking the dish off the ship inside the Death Star."

"Ug, men and their action flicks," Kari said.

"Come on, Kari. I know you love that part where Luke takes Vader's mask off before they leave the Death Star," T.K. said.

"Shhh. I got a reputation to keep."

T.K. laughed at Kari's response.

"Am I the only one who thinks we should be taking this more seriously?" Cody said. Everyone stopped and looked at him. "We're about to have another battle with Ogremon. The most important one yet. This battle will determine weather or not we stop Ogremon. We shouldn't be laughing a few minutes before we go into battle."

"Loosen up, Cody," Armadillomon reassured his partner. "If we go in acting like that, we're doomed to lose."

"Armadillomon's right, Cody," T.K. said. "If we're up tight, then we won't be able to perform out there like we need to."

"But... you're all acting like this is nothing."

"Don't worry, little guy," Tai said. "We're all taking this just as seriously as you are."

Cody nodded. "Okay. Sorry to have brought it up."

"Don't be sorry," T.K. said. "You wanted to voice your opinion. You're part of this team. You have every right to."

Kari smiled at what T.K. told Cody. _That's my T.K._

The Digidestend finally reached the top of Infinity Mountain after more than a hour of walking.

"Boy, I've walked enough to win 10 soccer matches," Davis said.

"Oh, boo hoo," Tai said, to which Davis pouted.

"We need to get to Devimon's old palace," Izzy said.

"Where is it?" Sora asked.

"You know what? I don't know. We never got there last time."

"Well, it's somewhere up here. All we gotta do is find it," Tai said. "It can't be that hard."

"Lets start looking," T.K. said.

The Digidestend started walking around the peak of Infinity Mountain looking for Devimon's palace. After several minutes of looking, they finally found it.

"This is it?" Yolei asked. "It's a car port!"

"So, this is where Devimon did all his evil work..." Tai trailed off. "Guy was more stupid than I thought. This isn't a palace, it's a waste of space."

"To think Devimon had us floating around on those broken up pieces of File Island from here," Sora said.

"Must get cold in the winter with no walls," Davis said.

"Well, now what?" Kari asked.

"Well, obviously, Ogremon is not here," Ken said.

"Yeah. It looks like we managed to get here before him," Izzy said.

"Great, now we can set another trap for that troll," Tai said.

The Digidestend set about making a plan to catch Ogremon off guard when he did arrive. This was to be the setting for the final battle.

************

Ogremon pulled up to the shore of File Island in a rowboat only just big enough to accommodate his big frame. Ogremon jumped up out of the boat and started walking quickly to the base of Infinity mountain. He was very tired from fighting the Digidestend not too long ago, though he didn't care. He had done what was necessary to achieve his goal. Now all that remained was to complete the process. Come hell or high water, Devimon would be revived. All would be set straight in the Digital World again. Devimon would rule the Digital World and fix everything that those foolish Digidestend had destroyed. Then, all would be right in the Digital World again! Ogremon could not wait.

He practically ran in the direction of Infinity Mountain. He ignored everything else. None of that mattered at all right now. Suddenly, Ogremon started to have doubts about what he was about to do. _Gee... getting close to the end here. Am I really doing the right thing? Maybe I should stop and think about this before I go on._ Ogremon stopped in his tracks. He started contemplating this in his mind. _I really don't know if I should do this now. Sure, I'm way too far in to turn back now, with killing all those digimon and all. I don't know. This doesn't feel right all of a sudden..._ Ogremon was about to decided enough was enough and keep Devimon nothing more than a memory. Suddenly, Ogremon fell to his knees and clutched his head in his hands. He groaned in terrible pain.

_You WILL go through with this! _A voice inside Ogremon's head shouted. _This world has been distorted to no end. Only you can set it straight. You MUST go through with the revival of Devimon!_

Ogremon pounded the ground with his fist. The pain was to much for him to stand. "MAKE IT STOP!!!"

_It will stop, if you revive Devimon._ The voice spoke again.

"But... what if this is the wrong thing to do?" Ogremon said out loud.

_Do you want all to be right in the Digital World again?_

"Yeah..."

_Then climb that mountain and finish your mission!_

"Yes... Yes!" Ogremon got back up. He headed for Infinity mountain even faster than before. "The Digital World will be set straight again. And it will all be thanks to me for reviving Devimon!"

Ogremon reached the foot of the mountain. He raced up the side of it as fast as he could. His prize for all of his hard work awaited up at the top.

************


	14. Ghosts of Years Past

Hello again. Wishing you a great day from snow-covered Texas. You guys are great. Thank you for your reviews. We're getting close to the end here. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

************

Ogremon charged up the side of Infinity Mountain, and now was at the top. After working for Devimon previously, he knew exactly where Devimon's old palace was. He also knew the Digidestend also might be waiting for him up there. He was very tired from fighting then before, and was vunerable. He knew that the Digidestend could stop him because of this. As he approached Devimon's palace, he looked around the area very carefully trying to spot the Digidestend. Their ignorance would not stop him in his moment of triumph. He would be stealthy and search the area carefully to make sure it was safe to complete the revival process.

************

The Digidestend waited nervously for Ogremon to show up. "Okay, that about covers it," Tai announced to the rest of the group. "Let's do this. We can't let that Gomamon's sacrifice be in vain." The Digidestend looked at their leader and nodded. They all felt very badly after that poor Gomamon gave himself up to save Tai and Agumon. Agumon kept blaming himself over that. He felt as though there was something he should have done back there to prevent the Gomamon's death. Tai felt just as badly. Not only did the Gomamon save Agumon, he saved Tai as well. The two of them were determined, however, to avenge that Gomamon and stop Ogremon. Ogremon would pay dearly for taking an innocent life. So very dearly!

"When do you think ole Mean Green is going to get here?" Yolei asked no one in particular.

"Might be a while," Ken replied. "He would have to sail across the ocean to get here. Even in a fast craft, that would take a while."

"I hope he doesn't take too long," Cody chimed in. "We need to get home. It's getting late back in Odaiba."

"Yeah..." Kari trailed off. "My social life has been completely _dead_ since this whole thing started last week. And, mom really doesn't like it with me and Tai getting home later than we used to."

"That's all about to come to an end, though," said Joe.

"Yeah. That big, green idiot is going down this time!" Gomamon said.

Silence fell upon the Digidestend. They continued to wait for Ogremon to arrive. While they waited, the sun started to go down. It began to get dark in a hurry.

"Great, we gotta fight dat freak in the dark!" Veemon groaned.

"Yeah, but just think, this will be over then," T.K. said.

As the sun set, the temperature dropped. It went from being a mild, sunny day to feeling rather cold. The wind started to pick up some as well. Kari started shivering and rubbing her arms.

"You cold, Kari?" Gatomon asked her partner.

"A little." Gatomon snuggled up against Kari to try and keep her warm. "Thanks, Gatomon."

"That sunset is pretty. You should take a picture of it, Kari," T.K. said.

"Good idea," Kari said as she took her camera off her neck. She took a quick snap shot of the sunset.

"You know, I wish this wasn't so close to the end," Izzy said. Everyone looked at him with a puzzled expression. "After this, we might not get to see our digimon partners again for a while."

"Who says we can't bring them back with us?" Tai said.

"What!?" Kari exclaimed.

"Lets bring our partners back with us."

"Don't you think there will be complications involved with that?" Izzy asked his tall-haired friend.

"We had 'em with us when we chased Myotismon back to the Real World. The new kids brought their partners back with them every day when they get back from here in the Digital World. I don't see why we can't bring our partners back with us after we stop Ogremon."

"Yeah!" Davis said. "It would be _so_ cool to be able to bring our partners back to the Real World!"

"Yeah! I miss piggin' out at Davis' house!" Veemon said.

"How are we going to be able to accomplish this?" Ken asked.

"Well... I haven't figured that out yet," Tai answered. "I'm sure between all of us that we can come up with something."

"I would love to be back in the Real World with Joe again," Gomamon said.

Silence fell upon the Digidestend once again. An uncomfortable tension started rising. Sora and Matt were glaring at each other. The team was scared to say anything and possibly cause a fight. This close to the most important fight with Ogremon, they needed to function as a unit.

"Matt, Sora, can I speak to you alone, please?" Tai said. Matt and Sora both looked at Tai with inquisitive expressions. They both got up and followed Tai away from the rest of the group.

"What'dya need, Tai?" Matt said, disdain evident in his voice.

"Yeah, what do you want. We have other, important things to worry about," Sora said.

"Listen," said Tai. "It's quite clear that you two are at ends over something." Sora looked at Tai. She was glad he didn't reveal that he already knew about the troubles she and Matt were having. "I need you two to act like mature adults right now. We're approaching one of the most important battles we've ever fought before. Your dispute _cannot_ interfear with the team's morale. So I'm asking you two, please try and get along out here. You can settle this when you get back to the Real World."

"I don't see where you get this 'there is a problem here' idea from," Matt said after a brief silence. "There's no problem here. Everything is absolutely perfect here."

"You have some nerve!" Sora yelled at Matt. "You know damn well there is a problem here!"

"Oh, quit acting like you own everything!"

"No, I'm not like you! I don't act that way!"

"Knock it off!" Tai ordered. "If you two are going to act like this, then you might as well go home. I don't need you two doing this right before the final battle with Ogremon."

"You would send us home at a time like this when you need us?" Sora asked.

Tai put his hands on his hips. "I don't want to. But this comes before your argument."

"What argument?" Matt said.

"Matt, your attitude isn't winning any awards here."

Matt growled and punched the ground. "Why is everyone turning on me!?"

"We'll talk this out when we get home. Until then, no more disputes, no more arguments. If you have to, stay away from each other."

"It would be my pleasure," Matt said and walked off.

Sora started to tear up. "What did I ever see in him?"

Tai walked up next to Sora and hugged her. She returned the hug. "Sora, you're going to have to stop crying. People are going to start talking if I keep hugging you every time you start crying."

Sora silently laughed. "Oh, Tai, what would I do without you?"

_I ask myself how I will make it without you almost every day._ Tai sighed heavily. "C'mon. Lets get back to the others. They're going to wonder why Matt came back and we didn't." The two of them broke the hug and walked back to the others.

"C'mon, Matt! What's up with you?" T.K. asked his brother. Matt looked at T.K. with a 'stop talking to me' look and didn't answer. "Don't be a wuss. You're damaging our morale." Matt maintained the same expression. T.K. sighed and gave up. T.K. walked over to Tai and took him aside. "What's the deal?"

"Relationship troubles," Tai answered.

"Well, since Sora isn't with Matt anymore, why don't you move in on her?"

"What? No!" Tai said and looked over at Sora, sitting as far away from Matt as she could. "I would be taking advantage of her if I did that."

"No you wouldn't."

"Yeah, I would."

"Tai, people do this all the time after break-ups. This is your chance to finally hook up with the love of your life. I won't have it if you don't do this."

"I'm not going to do it." T.K. huffed at Tai's response. "I would feel guilty if I did that so soon after they broke up."

T.K. shook his head. "I'm disappointed in you."

The two of them walked back to the group. They all engaged in small talk trying to pass the time. They were all becoming restless waiting for Ogremon to arrive.

"So, Tai, run us through the plan one time to make sure we all have it down," Izzy said.

"Okay, listen up, 'cause I'm not goin' over this again," Tai said. "When Biyomon, who is on watch for Ogremon, spots him, we are going to hide. He has to come inside this palace thing we are in now to summon Devimon." Tai started pacing as he talked. "We he gets inside, we're going to jump him and stop him while he's in the middle of reviving Devimon. Everyone is going to be at their highest level. We will all attack at the same time, which should kill him instantly. Then this crazy ride is over, and we can bring our partners home with us."

Some of the Digidestend laughed at Tai saying they would bring their partners with them to the Real World. Little did they know, Ogremon was hiding near by listening to their converstion. He now knew their plan. _Hehe... Stupid idiots. This will be their undoing._

The Digidestend continued to talk to each other while they waited. Suddenly, Biyomon flew up. "He's coming! Ogremon is coming!"

"Alright. About time!" Davis said. "I am so tired of waiting for that bitch. Lets get it on!"

"I can't believe we're about to finally end this," said Yolei.

The Digidestend ran to hide from Ogremon. They took cover behind part of the mountain. After they were concealed, they had their digimon Digivolve to their highest levels. They all watched around the corner. They tried to be as silent as possible to keep from giving their position away. They saw who they thought was Ogremon calmly walk up to Devimon's palace. The sun was all the way down now, and it was very difficult to see anything at a distance. The Digidestend's digimon got ready to jump out and attack Ogremon. They were all nervous and on edge. Ogremon walked into Devimon's palace. He put his club down on the ground, and put his hands into the air. "Get in there!" Tai ordered the digimon. They did as they were told and charged out of cover.

The digimon all launched their attacks at the figure in the palace. The attacks all hit, and kicked up a huge cloud of smoke. The blast almost caused the palace to collapse. The Digidestend all ran up to their partners to see if Ogremon had been destroyed. The smoke cleared, revealing that nobody was standing in the palace.

"Yeah! We did it!" Davis cheered.

The rest of the Digidestend watched on in awe.

"I guess we did!" Tai said.

The Digidestend started to celebrate, when suddenly, one of the force fields that Ogremon had used from before came up around them.

"What is this!?" T.K. said.

Suddenly, Ogremon appeared out of the darkness. He laughed at the Digidestend trapped inside the force field. "You idiots really are dumb! You should know I have the superior mind here! I am far too smart for you fools!"

"Oh yeah! Well, why don't you let this force field down and show us just how smart you really are!?" Davis shouted at Ogremon.

Ogremon laughed again. "Again, I am far too smart for you! You all make a fine sacrifice for Devimon when we revive him!"

"No! I won't let it end this way!" T.K. said.

"Too bad! You don't have any choice in the matter." Ogremon turned on the Digidestend and walked into Devimon's palace.

"Damn! We failed!" Joe cursed.

"Izzy, get us outta here!" Tai ordered.

Izzy got his laptop out and started researching the force field legend Ogremon was using to see if there was a way to make it go down. Meanwhile, the digimon started attacking the force field wall to try and bring it down.

"Oh, glorious Devimon, please accept my offering of 100 digimon sould slain in your name, and be revived!" Ogremon said. Suddenly, the palace started to glow a bright light.

"Izzy, hurry it up!" Tai demanded. "He's about to complete the revival process!"

"I'm working on it, Tai! Be quiet so I can work!" Izzy shouted back.

"The digimon aren't going to get that wall down in time!" T.K. said.

"There I got it!" Izzy said.

"What do we have to do?" Tai asked.

"Kabutreimon, put your arms in the air and say 'all hail Azulongmon, guradian of the Digital World'."

"Right!" Kabuterimon replied. "All hail Azulongmon, guardian of the Digital World!"

When Kabuterimon said the magic words, the force field went down.

"We gotta go! Ogremon's about to finish reviving Devimon!" Tai said.

The digimon all charged Ogremon and fired their attacks at him. The attacks hit Ogremon, making him fly out of the palace.

"Take that, bastard!" Greymon curesed.

Devimon's palace continued to glow, despite Ogremon being knocked out of it.

"Why is that thing still glowing!?" Tai asked Izzy.

"We didn't stop him in time," Izzy replied. "The process it too far along to be halted."

"You mean Devimon is about to come back to life!?" T.K. demanded.

"I'm afraid so."

Suddenly, something black came out of Ogremon's battered body, and then flew into the palace.

"What was that?" Kari asked.

"I don't know," Izzy answered.

The palace got even brighter. The Digidestend and their digimon had to shield their eyes, or they would become blind.

"Quick, blast the palace!" Tai ordered.

"Positron Laser!" ImperialDramon fired at the palace. It was destroyed instantly.

A large cloud of smoke billowed up. The Digidestend waited to see what happened. The smoke cleared, revealing Devimon standing in his place.

"NO! It can't be!" T.K. exclaimed.

"Yes, it is!" Devimon laughed. "I will destroy you fools later! I have other things to take care of." Devimon raised his arm and disappeared.

T.K. made a fist with his hand. He gripped so hard, his knuckles were white. "I will kill him myself!"

Kari put her hand on T.K.'s shoulder. "Calm down."

T.K. breathed hard and finally put his fist down. A general feeling of disbelief manifested itself in the Digidestend. They couldn't believe they had failed and Devimon was now alive again. They were so shocked, the didn't realize Izzy investigating Ogremon. "Hey, guys! Come look!"

The Digidestend snapped back to normal and walked over to where Ogremon landed after he was blasted out of the palace.

"I... didn't want this..." Ogremon said, barely audible.

"What?" Tai asked.

"Near as I can tell, Devimon's spirit invaded his mind and forced him to do all this," Izzy said.

"I'm sorry..." Ogremon said.

Those were Ogremon's last words. He passed away soon after that. His body turned into data and floated away.

"You mean to tell me we have been fighting Devimon controling Ogremon all this time?" Cody said.

"That explains a lot," Izzy said. "After observing him in our last adventure, I knew Ogremon wasn't smart enough to pull all this off on his own. Now we know why he did all this, and how he talked all those digimon into helping him."

Kari started to tear up. "I knew Ogremon wasn't behind all this." Tears started falling down her face.

"Kari..." T.K. trailed off.

"This is so sad..." Sora said.

"What do we do now?" Davis asked.

"Devimon is out there some where," Tai said. "We have to go stop him!"

"Yeah, but where do we go to look for him?" Yolei asked.

"He has something evil planned," Ken said. "Something that will compromise something about the Digital World. We have to find out what it is."

"I bet Gennai will know," Davis said.

"Good idea. Lets go see him. We need to report this all to him any way," said Tai.

The Digidestend all nodded. They journeyed down part of the mountain and found a T.V. They used it to transport back to Gennai's house.

************

"Devimon has been successfully revived!?" Gennai exclaimed.

Tai hung his head, defeated. "Yeah. We couldn't stop Ogremon."

"There's more to it, though," Izzy said. "The spirit of Devimon invaded Ogremon's mind and forced him to do all this."

"I see," Gennai said. "How fascinating."

"What do we do now?" T.K. asked. "Devimon is running around out there some place. We don't know what he is after. We need some kind of direction here."

Gennai put his hand to his chin and started thinking. He paced around the room as he thought. "I do not know what his target might be. Obviously, he will do something that will set back all our work to set right the Digital World." Gennai stopped pacing and faced the Digidestend. "We will figure it out later. Right now, we need to get you all back to your home. You can return tomorrow, and then we can work together to find out what Devimon's target might be."

"But, Gennai..." Tai said. "Devimon is angry and determined. I don't think going home over night and letting him do whatever he wants while we're gone is a good idea."

Gennai sighed. "I understand how you feel. But you need to rest. You've been here for half a day. You're all tired, and you have lives to live back in the Real World. Take my advice."

Tai frowned at Gennai's response, but pushed the issue no farther. The Digidestend slowly started using the portal in Gennai's house to return to the Real World.

************

"Boy, are our parents going to be mad we've been gone so long," Cody said once the Digidestend were all through the portal.

"Don't remind me," Davis moaned. "The very thought of mom getting on to me makes me wanna throw up."

Some of the Digidestend laughed at what Davis said.

"Well, lets not take any longer," Tai said. "Head home, everybody."

The Digidestend did as they were told and set off for their homes. All except for T.K.

"T.K., why are you still here?" Kari asked.

"I gotta walk you home," T.K. replied.

"Thanks for worrying about me, but I have Tai with me."

"Oh, but I insist."

Kari sighed. "Fine."

Tai laughed. "Awww... Ain't that cute? Arguing like a married couple. Hehe..."

"Shut up, Tai!" Kari said quickly.

The three teens walked out of the school and started heading for the Kamiya residence. T.K. had other reasons for wanting to walk Kari home. Right now, he really didn't want to be alone. He knew Devimon was now alive again, and that thought scared him deeply. He could only hope they were strong enough to defeat him a second time. He would not stand by and let all the hard work the Digidestend had put in to make the Digital World a good place again be destroyed.

The three of them reached the Kamiya house. "Thanks for helping me escort my little sis home, Teeks," Tai said.

T.K. nodded. "Can I talk to Kari for a minute?"

Tai crossed his arms. "You're not gonna ask her for a kiss, are you?"

T.K. blushed furiously. "I... uh..."

Kari punched Tai in the arm. "Don't be so mean!"

"Sorry!" Tai said holding his hand up in front of him. He walked inside the apartment to go face the wrath of his mother while T.K. and Kari talked out in the concourse.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Kari asked T.K.

T.K. walked over to the railing and looked out over the night time Odaiba skyline. "Devimon being alive again has me worried."

Kari walked up next to her blonde-haired friend. "You guys beat him once. What's stopping you from doing it again now that you have more help?"

T.K. chuckled quietly. "It's just, when ghosts of years past come back, it tends to haunt you. I guess I'm still not over the first meeting with Devimon all those years ago."

Kari put her hand on T.K.'s shoulder. "That was then, this is now. Things are different. We have more digimon, and they're more powerful then the first time you faced him. Last time, your partners could only reach Champion level."

"I know." T.K. looked over at Kari. "If I die in this next battle, promise me--"

"No talking like that!" Kari interrupted. "The only one who is going to die is Devimon!"

T.K. laughed. "What would I do if I didn't have friends like you?" Kari laughed as well.

The two teens stood there looking into each others' eyes. Suddenly, they started to move closer together. Their faces got every close together. Their lips locked together, and they started kissing very passionately. They stayed there kissing for a few seconds, until Kari pulled away.

"I really should be getting inside," Kari said as she fixed her hair where the wind had blown it.

"...Yeah... I need to... Get home, too..." T.K. trailed off. "Th-thanks for helping me..."

Kari nodded and walked inside. T.K. turned and walked toward the elevator. He was in pure heaven right now. He had never felt happiness like this before. _This feels so... good._ T.K. stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. _I have never felt like this before. This is so different from any other attraction I have ever felt before. It feels like so much more than a crush. Could... could I be... in love...?_ T.K. walked home, replaying the kiss he and Kari shared over and over again in his mind. All thoughts of Devimon were now completely gone.

************


	15. Barrier

Good news; lots of couples development in the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

************

Kari walked inside after kissing T.K. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. Her breathing was fast and erratic. _Calm down. It's gonna be okay._ she thought to herself. She walked into the room she shared with Tai and sat down on the lower part of the bunk bed. _Did I really just do that? What ever could have possessed me to do that?_ Kari continued to breath hard and fast, when Tai walked in.

"Lucky you! Because your boyfriend wanted to talk to you outside, I got to face mom's wrath about getting home so late, and therefore you got off the hook for free!" Tai said.

"S-sorry... I really am," Kari replied.

Tai looked at how Kari was acting. She looked like she was about to have a heart attack. "What's wrong?"

Kari's eyes got big. "WRONG!? Nothings wrong! What would ever give you that idea!?"

Tai scratched the back of his head. "I don't know, maybe the way you're acting. Did T.K. say something to make you act like this? If he did, boy is he in for it tomorrow..."

"It wasn't... T.K.," Kari said between breaths.

"Then why are you acting like you committed some forbidden act?"

Kari tried again to get her breathing under control. "Tai, sit down, will ya. I need to talk to you about something."

"Oh, no! Mom always says that when I'm in trouble."

"Please, Tai. I need your help on something."

Tai gave in and finally sat down next to his sister. "What is it?"

"When I was outside with T.K., we got to talking... He was all scared about Devimon being back. I tried to comfort him, and, well... we kinda... ended up... ki-kissing!"

Tai laughed then patted his sister on the back. "Now that's my little sister!"

Kari threw Tai's hand off her. "This isn't a joke! What if T.K. gets the wrong idea!? What if he thinks I was taking adventage of him being vunerable? What if--"

Tai nudged Kari to make her stop rambling and said, "Calm down, sis! Look, you said it yourself; you were trying to put him at ease, and you got, eh, carried away."

"But--"

"Hush! Really, I'm glad you two are finally hooking up."

Kari got up and stomped the floor. "We are NOT hooking up! I thought I could come to you with a problem, but I guess not."

Tai got up as well. "Chill out! I was only joking!"

"Like I said before, this isn't something to joke about! This is serious! I make the biggest mistake ever during the Digidestend's most desperate hour!"

"Kissing someone isn't a mistake, sis."

Kari looked at her brother, confused. "Wha?"

"I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I will anyway. T.K. came to me in the Digital World earlier today. He was asking about this girl he thinks he starting to like."

Kari held her head in her hands. "I knew it! He likes somebody else! I shouldn't have done that out there..."

Tai huffed. "Can I finish talking here, please?" Kari looked up at him, on the verge of crying. "The person T.K. talked to me about is... you." Kari's eyes got big. "He's crazy about you, sis. He wants to be with you, but doesn't want you to think badly of him. So, he won't move in on you. I wish he would. I am FED up with Davis' obsession with you."

Kari started thinking what Tai said. _He... likes me? And he... he wants to be with me?_ Kari leaned up against the wall. She slid down it until she was sitting on the floor. _He... he likes me! And I like him!_ "He likes me..."

"He doesn't just like you. I think he loves you," Tai said. "Do you love him?"

"Well I..."

"Just answer the question!"

"I... I do!"

Tai chuckled. "Yup! That's my little sister! Got the best taste in men."

Now accepting the fact that she liked T.K., new feelings Kari had never felt before started to surface. _This feels... wonderful! How could I miss this, what with it being right in front of my face all this time. T.K. has a thing for me. I have one for him. What is this I'm feeling?_ "And your sure he likes me?"

"Tai slapped his head. "What else do I have to do to convince you!? Do I have to get a tape recording of him saying it?"

Kari then started remembering the kiss in her mind. How good it felt. How wonderful it was. Tai had enough of all this, and walked out to the living room to go watch T.V. _My little sister and the guy made for her are finally going to hook up. I'm so proud!_ Tai sat down on the couch and turned the T.V. on. Then, Mrs. Kamiya came over and sat down next to Tai. "Need something, mom?"

Mrs. Kamiya cleared her throat. "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for chewing you out a minute ago." Tai' jaw dropped to the floor. "You were just having fun with your friends, and I shouldn't punish you for that." Mrs. Kamiya hugged Tai, and then walked off.

Tai could not believe what he had just heard. Had his ears decieved him? _Oh, wait... I see what this is! She putting a guilt trip on me so I will feel bad and stop staying gone so long. Sorry, ma. It doesn't work on me. Nothing like that does after that brave little Gomamon... Plus, I can't stop what I'm doing in the Digital World just because you want me home on time._ Tai turned the T.V. to a soccer match. He got tied up in the game, and then started thinking about what T.K. had said about trying to asked Sora out now that she wasn't with Matt now. _Say, now that I helped Kari with her little relationship deal, she can return the favor, and help with one._ Tai's was about to get his lazy romp off the couch and go talk to Kari, when she came to him.

"Soccer, again?" Kari whined as she sat down next to Tai on the couch.

Tai thought about it, and then decided he would ask Kari. "Hey, sis?"

"Hmm?"

"I need to ask _you_ something now."

"Why should I answer any of your questions?"

"Hey, I just helped you, the least you can do is help me."

Kari sighed. "Okay. What is it?"

"Don't tell anyone, but Sora and Matt have just had a messy break up."

"Gee, that's kinda obvious with the way they acted earlier today."

"Is it really that obvious?"

"They were fighting and talking bad to each other. I'd call that obvious."

"Well, you know how much I like Sora and all..."

"Yeah?"

"Well.... Should I ask Sora out now that she's free of Matt, or not since it would be kinda low with her all broken over this whole thing?"

Kari crossed her arms. "First off, let me say that I'm proud of you for being sensetive like this. Knowing you, you would have probably run head-first into this." Tai gave Kari a look while Kari started thinking. "In my honest opinion, I think you should."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Right now, like you said, she's kinda broken. You could be the one to help pick her back up."

Tai put his hand to his chin. "I don't know. If I did ask her out, I would feel guilty."

"Then think of it as doing it for her, instead of you. You want her to be happy again, right?"

"Of course."

"Then go for it. I would wait a day or two, though."

Tai was rejoicing in his mind. _Yeah! I might get to be with the woman of my dreams finally!_

"Again, I'm so proud you would consider others' feelings before your own, Tai," Kari said.

Tai scratched the back of his head. "What can I say? Playing soccer turns you into a team player."

************

T.K. walked into his house. "Mom, I'm back!" He listened, but no reply came. He looked through the house, but found no sign of his mother. _She's getting home after me. Great! Now I don't have to explain why I got back so late. And the love of my life kissed me... Wait! Did I just say that!?_

T.K. walked into his room and lied down on his bed. He continued to replay the kiss in his head over and over again. The world never felt so peaceful before. It was like God had given him the greatest gift ever. His every thought was of Kari and the kiss they shared. Then he remembered, his personal life came second to his duty as the leader of the new Digidestend. He decided that, while in the Digital World, he and Kari would act like good little soldiers. But while in the Real World, they could be together. _Did I really just say that we were going to be together? Oh, man, this is HEAVEN! _Then, he thought of the biggest problem of all; what would happen with Davis? He would be insanely jealous of the fact that T.K. and Kari were together. The two of them had just gotten back on good terms after the whole leader debacle. Hell, they had even become friends now. This could set them back to square one. The team would be in disarray again. The Digidestend could not afford this at such a crucial time.

_I had better tell Davis about this instead of just throwing it on him without a warning. Maybe that will soften the blow. Or, I could be selfish, and Kari and I could have a relationship that was a secret to Davis. No... That's so wrong to even think about. And besides, as possessive as Davis is of Kari, I'm sure he would find out eventually. I'll figure something out. This isn't going to keep me from being with Kari. If Davis really does care about her, then he will accept the fact Kari is with me. Kari is with me... I like that. Kari is with me..._

T.K. then heard the door open, and his mother said, "T.K.! Are you here!"

T.K. sat up and said, "Yeah, mom!" He got up to go see her.

"Sorry I'm late," she said. "It's good to see you got home before me for once. How was your day?"

T.K. put his hands behind his back and flashed and ear to ear smile. "It was _so_ awesome!"

************

The next day, the Digidestend decided to meet up in the park. They would use Izzy's laptop to enter the Digital World. Tai, Kari, and Sora were the first to arrive. Tai started hanging around Sora a lot. Sora didn't like it at first, but she got to liking it after a while. "Feelin' better?" Tai asked.

"A little," Sora replied. She seemed a little bis distant.

"Who would've thought Tai would get here before most of the others?" Kari laughed.

Tai and Sora joined in the laughter. _Yeah, I had a reason for gettin' here so fast. She's standing right next to me._

T.K. showed up next. His gaze hardly ever left Kari. Kari noticed how much he was looking at her. It made her a little nervous. _Why is he looking at me so much? He must be thinking about last night. I hope that's not all he thinks about when we get to the Digital World._

Eventually, the rest of the Digidestend arrived. All except for Matt.

"Hey, where's Matt?" Yolei asked.

"Uh... guys? I have some bad news..." T.K. said. Everyone looked at him. "Matt is having... 'troubles' with someone, and decided to stay home today."

_I know exactly who that 'someone' is. _Tai thought. "Fine, we can do without him. Lets be on our way."

Izzy opened up his laptop and turned it on. T.K. walked up and opened the Digi-Port after taking a glace at Kari. The team all flew into the screen one at a time, headed for Gennai's house in the Digital World.

************

After working themselves loose from the pile they all landed in, the Digidestend met up with their partners.

"Why isn't Matt here?" Gabumon asked.

"I'll tell you in a minute," T.K. told Gabumon.

Gennai walked up and said, "Mimi should be on her way." Soon enough, Mimi appeared out of the portal. Unlike the others, though, she landed on her feet.

"Ain't that special?" Davis muttered where no one could hear.

"Gather 'round, children and digimon," Gennai said. "I have determined what it is Devimon wishes to destroy."

"What is it!?" Tai asked.

"It is the barrier you created around the Digital World when you gave up your crests."

"Why would he want to destroy that?" Biyomon asked.

"Before he can undo all that we have done to make this world a better place, he will need to destroy that shield."

"Can the shield even be destroyed?" Izzy asked.

"Yes, but he cannot simply do it on his own. He needs something."

"And what's that?" T.K. asked.

"More power. Specifically, the power held within the Destiny Stones." The Digidestend and their digimon all gasped at what Gennai had told them.

"But I thought BlackWarGreymon destroyed them all." Davis said.

"Yes. All except for one, if you remember."

"That's right!" Cody said.

"Oh, great. The Destiny Stones Saga, what a fun time that was!" Veemon said sarcastically.

"Right now, Devimon is searching for the Destiny Stones. Since there is only one left, he has been delayed."

"He can't find where it is! Haha!" Yolei said.

"Wait. I thought Azulongmon planted seeds to make the Destiny Stones come back," T.K. said.

"He did," Gennai answered. "They have yet to return. There's only the one for right now. You must go to the Destiny Stone and wait for Devimon to arrive. Then you can finally end his mission."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Lets head for the Destiny Stone!" T.K. A collective 'yeah!' was heard from the others.

The Digidestend used the portal in Gennai's house to transport to a spot near the Destiny Stone. There, they would wait for Devimon to arrive.

************


	16. Rocky Road

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

************

The Digidestend appeared in a pile near where the Destiny Stone was. After much grumbling about ending up in a large pile on the ground, they proceeded to find the stone.

"Remember the last time we came here?" T.K. said to his team.

"Yeah. It was right before the infamous World Tour started," Yolei answered.

"We met Azulongmon after fighting with BlackWarGreymon," said Patamon. "Then, BlackWarGreymon flew off feeling like he had no purpose. It was so... sad."

"At least BlackWarGreymon finally found peace," Cody said. "I hope you're resting peacefully, BlackWarGremon."

The new Digidestend all started hanging their heads as they all remembered that poor soul, BlackWarGreymon. T.K. took notice of this. _Gee, thanks a lot, Cody!_ T.K. thought. _You just made my job really hard. I can see why Davis is so care free right now. Well, not that he ever took his responsibility seriously._ T.K. shook his head. "Cheer up, fellas. Like Cody said, BlackWarGreymon is at peace now. And that peace will be disturbed if we don't stop Devimon. You don't guys don't want that, do you?"

The others all said a collective "No." They continued walking on toward the pool where the Destiny Stone was.

"I still can't believe that Destiny Stone is submerged under all that soup from the diner," Davis said.

"It might not be," Kari said. "For all we know, Azulongmon could have put it back under the soup so nobody else would find it."

"Whenever you guys feel like it, clue me in, why don't you?" Joe said sarcastically.

"Okay, Joe. Let me tell you the story," T.K. said. He was about to start telling Joe and the rest of the older Digidestend about there adventure here last time, when they got to the soup pool in the ground.

"Man, I didn't realize it was this far out," Davis said.

"There is a reason for that," Ken said. "Last time, we were running. Also, we came from the direction of the diner. We emerged from the T.V. portal, which was farther than the diner." Yolei was about to bring up her recurring 'you talk like a Vulcan' line, but Ken gave her a dirty look.

"Enough talk. We got work to do," Tai said. "Devimon could get here at any second. He's had all night to look for this Destiny Stone. We need to get into position."

Sora put her hands on her hips. "You act like you came up with a plan. Would you mind telling us about it?"

Tai scratched the back of his head. "Well, I didn't actually come up with a plan. I was thinking we would just wait for him to get here and then charge straight in."

Sora shook her head while Kari laughed. "That's Tai for you," they said in unison.

"Hey, this is the big show," Tai said. "We gotta come through here. So act you age and not your shoe size. No more jokes. Take things seriously."

"Gee, what got into you?" Joe asked his tall-haired friend.

"We have to get down to business. If Devimon takes the power in this stone, we're screwed. He can collapse the barrier around the Digital World. Then, all hell will break loose. We can't let that happen."

Sora walked over to Tai and ran her hands through his hair. "Aww, look at him, trying to act all mature."

Tai pushed Sora's hands away from him. "Maybe if _you_ actually tried acting mature, I wouldn't have to so much to pick up the slack."

Sora huffed at Tai. "This coming from the guy who said we can't make jokes any more. Real fair, Tai!"

"Everybody calm down," T.K. said. Although, he knew Tai and Sora were joking. It was just Tai's way of trying to cheer Sora up. "I know we can do this. There's 11 of us and our digimon, and only one of Devimon. We will stop Devimon from taking this Destiny Stone, we will kick his ass harder than we did the last time, and we will send his good-for-nothing butt back to the dark place he crawled out of!"

"Yeah!" Patamon said.

"T.K.'s right," Kari said. "We've come too far to let Devimon to undo all we have done here in the Digital World all at once! I won't let him!"

"Me either!" Yolei said.

"I think the same goes for all of us," Tai said. _Except for one dumbass blonde-haired idiot._

"Yeah, lets do this!" Davis said, pumping his fist. "Only, let it be fast! I hate all this waiting. We never waited for anything before. Why do we have to wait so much now?"

Everyone tried to ignore Davis' annoying complaint as they psyched themselves up for the battle with Devimon that awaited them.

"So, how do we get to the Destiny Stone?" Mimi asked.

"Lets see..." T.K. said. "I think... Mummymon tried to eat some of it, and the stone reacted, and rose up out of the pool."

"We should avoid doing that," Izzy said. "If we make it come up out of the uh, er, soup... it will be out in the open for Devimon."

"Good point, Izzy," said Tai.

"So, what do we do while we wait for Devimon to get here?" Agumon asked nobody in particular.

"Well, we need to be on our toes for when we gets here, so we can't do anything that will make us let our guard down," Ken said.

"So you're saying we have to just sit here for who knows how long!?" Davis exclaimed.

"I am afraid so."

Davis growled and punched the ground. _We never had to wait like this before. All this 'let the bad guy come to us' shit is really old. I wanna take the fight to them._ Davis punched the ground again. He tried not to show it, but his fist _really_ hurt from the second hit.

"Oh, Davis, don't be so silly," Kari teased.

"I'm not being silly, I'm trying to pass the time. For all I know, I might be here for a while. And to think, I could be at home stuffing my face full of food right now."

"Is eating all you guys think about?" Kari laughed.

"It's not _all_ I think about."

Kari laughed even more. "Stop it, Davis. You're too much!"

Davis got mad and crossed his arms. T.K. couldn't help but smile at how Kari was messing with Davis. _Now, if he would only back off of her._ T.K. thought.

"I'm sorry you all have to be here sitting around like this when you all could be back home enjoying this nice Saturday," Tai told the group. "I would love to be albe to tell you guys that you could all go home, but--"

"Don't worry, Tai," Sora said. "We don't mind. Besides, this is more important then out personal lives anyway."

"I'm sure Matt would hate to hear that," Joe said. "I can just hear it now; 'I haven't gone on one single date in a whole week! It's killin' me!' Oh, brother." Joe rolled his eyes as he said the last part.

Sora's spirits dropped when Joe mentioned Matt. Tai noticed this. "I don't want to boss you guys around, but can you not mention our absentee?"

Joe realized what he said and started sweating. "I uh... I'm sorry..."

Sora looked at Tai, her expression one of gladness. The last thing she wanted right now was to hear _his_ name. Or anything to do with him, for that matter. Tai nodded when Sora looked at him.

"When do you think he will get here?" Palmon asked.

"Who cares? All I know is, when he gets here, he's toast," Gatomon said.

"Don't you mean tuna?" Patamon asked.

Gatomon looked at Patamon with a not to thrilled expression. "You call it what you want, I'll call it what I want."

Patamon backed off a little. "W-what's wrong with you?"

Kari laughed at her partner. "You too act like a married couple. Wait!" Kari put her hands on her hips. What did you do in the time I was gone?"

Gatomon was taken aback by what Kari said. "I-I... N-nothing! I swear! There's nothing going on between me and Patamon! I'm telling you."

"Woah! Relax, Gatomon. I was just teasing you."

Gatomon breathed a sigh of relief. "For a minute there, I thought you were going to tell everybody about what Patamon and I told each other the other day."

Patamon's jaw dropped. "GATOMON!"

"What!? What... Oh no!"

The whole team busted out laughing, all except for Veemon. Veemon hung his head, disappointment surging from him. _Well, if anyone deserves Gatomon, it would be Patamon. Atta boy, Patamon. I knew ya had it in ya!_ Veemon slowly went back to his normal cheery self.

"Okay, seriously guys, we have yo be on guard," Tai said. "I don't want to push you around or anything."

"Don't worry about us. We know you're only trying to help," T.K. replied. He turned and looked at Kari. "Kari, can I asked you something in private?"

Kari looked at T.K., a puzzled expression. "Uh, yeah. Sure." The two teens walked off into the forest away from the others, much to the dismay of Davis. "Need to ask me something?" Kari asked when they were out of earshot of the others.

"Yeah. Why didn't you tell me Patamon and Gatomon were an item?"

"Oh. Hehe... Well, I was going to tell you last night, but we had that eh, little board meeting."

"Oh," T.K. said and scratched the back of his head.

"Besides, this only just happened. They absolutely loved each other, and finally admitted it to one another yesterday."

T.K. chuckled silently. "And about that 'board meeting.'"

Kari's heart started to beat faster than before. "Yeah?"

"I... don't want you to think I was taking advantage of you."

"Oh no, T.K. I don't think that at all." T.K. felt the weight of the world lifted off his shouders. Although he was on cloud nine over the kiss, he was still worried had done something wrong. "To tell the truth, I was afraid you thought I was taking advantage of you."

"What? No! Of course not!"

Little did the two of them know, Davis had secretly followed them. He had been listening to everything the two teens talked about. _What 'board meeting?' And why would one think they took advantage of the other? T.K. isn't trying to steal my girl is he? He better not! First he takes my job, now he wants to steal my girl? Who does he think he is!? This isn't fair!_ Davis listened to T.K. and Kari some more.

"So... What do we do about Davis?" Kari asked.

T.K. shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I don't know... We just got things settled because I took his position away. If we handle this the wrong way, it'll be like we're right back where we started. It was bad enough before." Kari nodded. T.K. started pacing. "I felt terrible last time when he wouldn't even talk to anybody. I don't want to hurt his feelings again. We're actually friends now, and not just two people who happen to be in the same team and have to work together. Things are going so good right now. I don't want to mess this up. I would feel like it was my fault."

"I wish I knew what to tell you..." Kari trailed off. "The team is doing better than ever before. I don't things to go back to how they were when Davis was upset either." T.K. sat down on a rock and rested his chin on his hands. He started acting distant. "You okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I just... I wish this didn't have to be a problem."

"I do, too." Kari sat down next to T.K. on the rock. "I wish we didn't have to worry about this." Kari laid her head on T.K.'s shoulder.

Davis watched on from his hiding spot near T.K. and Kari. _T.K. thinks of me as a real friend now? And he doesn't want to hurt my feelings? Gee. I... never knew he cared about others so much. Heh... I could learn a thing or two from him. He really is a bigger and better man than I could ever be..._ Davis quietly and carefully got up and walked away. He made sure that T.K. and Kari didn't hear or see him leave. _I guess... I should just get out of the way. But... Kari's my girl... and... she has been for a long time... and... I'm being selfish and acting like an idiot. Like I said, T.K. sure is a bigger man than me. That's it! Things are gonna be different now! No more thinking about number one! From now on, Daisuke Motomiya puts others before himself!_ Davis walked back to the others, a changed man. He never felt so alive.

Meanwhile, T.K. and Kari sat peacefully on the rock, Kari's head still resting on T.K.'s shoulder. "We had better get back to the others," T.K. told Kari. "They might start to suspect something."

Kari picked her head up from T.K.'s shoulder. "Let them suspect something. I really don't care."

T.K. laughed. "Come on. We have work to do."

Kari huffed and reluctantly followed T.K. back to the soup pool. Tai looked at T.K. with an evil grin on his face at T.K. and Kari walked back up.

"Where did you two go?" Yolie asked.

"You see, I had to go discuss some ground rules with Kari now that our digimon are hooking up," T.K. replied.

"Grr... So, this is the thanks I get for all the beatings I take out there trying to defend you!?!?" Patamon exclaimed.

The group erupted in laughter. "Chill, buddy. I didn't mean anything."

"Like I haven't heard that before."

"This has been one hell of an adventure. So much drama! I love it!" Tai said.

"If you were as beat up from all this as I am, you would hate it," Agumon told his partner.

"Oh... sorry..."

"Come on, Devimon! Show up already!" Gomamon protested.

"Call for me!?" an evil voice said.

The Digidestend all looked to where the voice came from. None other than Devimon stood before them.

"Look who came for a butt whoopin'!" Davis said. "Time to die once and for all, numb nuts! You're gonna pay for killing all those innocent digimon and killing Ogremon!"

"Damn straight!" T.K. said. "This ends for good. Right here. Right now!"

"So eager to be sent to your deaths? Very well. Who am I to deny you?" Devimon laughed.

"Maybe you can't count or something, but there are 12 of us here, and only of you!" Tai said. "And we're more powerful than before, too!"

"Good. You will need that power if you want to have even the slightest chance of survival!"

The digimon all Digivolved to their highest forms possible. Devimon just stood there with his arms crossed and watched them do it. He never moved the whole time, nor did his facial expression change in the slightest. The digimon, led by ImperialDramon all faced off with Devimon. "I see you have achieved the higher levels. Heh. Well, your not the only one who can do that. Behold, true power! Devimon, Digivolve to... NeoDevimon!" NeoDevimon emerged from Digivolution and stood before the Digidestend's digimon.

"What in the hell is that!?" Tai asked Izzy.

Izzy pulled his laptop out and looked up their foe. "NeoDevimon. The Ultimate form of Devimon. And with all that power from those digimon souls he absorbed, he could have the power of a Mega!"

"Like we haven't taken down our share of Mega's in the past!" Davis said. "We can do this, guys. Just believe!"

"Davis is right. We can do this. And we will!" T.K. said.

"Come! Face your doom!" NeoDevimon taunted.

************


	17. Shout at the Devil

Hello again. This chapter contains a big effin' fight scene. I hope you like it, because this will more than likely be complete this month.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

************

The older Digidestend's digimon fell back while ImperialDramon, Silphymon and Shakkoumon faced off with NeoDevimon. "This ends right now!" ImperialDramon shouted.

"Very funny. Now the serious business starts! Where Ogremon has failed, I will succed. Die, Digidestend!"

NeoDevimon took a swipe at ImperialDramon with his sharp claws, but ImperialDramon jumped away. Sliphymon and Shakkoumon backed off as well.

"My team, fall back. Let T.K. and his boys handle this," Tai ordered.

"No. No more running! We are all going to fight as a team this time!" Sora said.

"Don't be foolish, Sora," Izzy said. "Our digimon are no match for him. The new Digidestend's digimon may not even be able to take him on."

"Then that's all the more reason to stay. I'm not going to run and let them die!"

Tai slapped his forehead. "Fine. We'll stay here then."

"Guilty Claw!" NeoDevimon attacked Sliphymon, but she ducked under it. "Stun Claw!" NeoDevimon attacked again, but Sliphymon flew up into the air and away.

"Positron Laser!" ImperialDramon shot at NeoDevimon's back while he was trying to attack Sliphymon. The attack hit, but did no damage.

NeoDevimon whiped around and charged ImperialDramon. "Guilty Claw!" NeoDevimon slashed across ImperialDramon's face. ImperialDramon yelled in pain.

"Cachina Bomb!" Shakkoumon attacked while NeoDevimon was distracted with ImperialDramon. NeoDevimon turned and faced Shakkoumon and then flicked Shakkoumon's attack away with his arm. "Suck fist!" Shakkoumon said as he charged NeoDevimon and tried to punch him. NeoDevimon grabbed Shakkoumon's fist and clampped down. NeoDevimon's grip was so great, Shakkoumon couldn't break away. Then, NeoDevimon picked Shakkoumon up and threw him away.

Sliphymon and ImperialDramon flanked NeoDevimon from both sides.

"Static Force!"

"Positron Laser!"

NeoDevimon saw the attacks coming and jumped up and out of the way. Sliphymon's attack and ImperialDramon's attack collieded with each other and exploded.

"Fat lot of good that did, bitches!" NeoDevimon taunted as he landed.

"Nova Blast!"

"Meteor Wing!"

"Electro Shocker!"

"Harpoon Torpedo!"

"Neddle Spray!"

The older Digidestend's digimon all attacked NeoDevimon from behind after he landed from dodging the attacks from ImperialDramon and Sliphymon. A large cloud of smoke engulffed NeoDevimon. Suddenly, NeoDevimon waved his arms and cleared the smoke. All the attacks had absolutely no effect. "I don't see how think it's fair for you to have eight of your pets attack lowly little ole me. I think it's time to thin your numbers! Deep Sorrow!" NeoDevimon fired beams out of his eyes. The beams hit all of the older Digidestend's digimon.

"Oh... what is this?" Greymon muttered.

"I feel so... sad..." said Birdramon.

Suddenly, the older Digidestend's digimon all reverted back to their rookie forms.

"What did he do?" Tai asked nobody in particular.

"A side effect of his attack," said Izzy.

ImperialDramon, Sliphymon and Shakkoumon all flew in and formed a line between NeoDevimon and the older Digidestend's digimon.

"I just whipped up on you bitches a minute ago. What makes you think you're going to stop me now?" NeoDevimon said nonchalantly.

"That doesn't change the fact that you're going to to die again!" ImperialDramon said back.

"Stun Claw!" NeoDevimon stabbed ImperialDramon with his claws. ImperialDramon was temporarilly imolbilzed.

"Chchina Bomb!"

"Static Force!"

Shakkoumon and Sliphymon attacked at the same time and hit NeoDevimon in unison. NeoDevimon was pushed back and held his chest where Sliphymon's and Shakkoumon's attacks landed.

"We're finally making a dent," said Yolei.

"Keep it up, guys!" T.K. said.

Meanwhile, Tai and his team picked their digimon up. "We're got to fall back," Tai told T.K. "The fate of the Digital World is in your hands now. Do us proud."

"You got it." Tai and his team ran off while T.K. and his team continued to fight NeoDevimon. _Everything is riding on us now..._ T.K. thought. _I have to do this. For the Digital World. For Kari._

ImperialDramon finally recovered from being stunned from NeoDevimon's attack. "ImperialDramon, mode change! You need the power!" Davis said.

ImperialDramon did as he was told and switched into Fighter Mode. "Giga Chuser!" ImperialDramon fired the cannon in his chest at NeoDevimon, who was still recovering from Sliphymon and Shakkoumon hitting him. NeoDevimon saw the attack and ducked under it.

"Impudent retches! Guilty Claw!" NeoDevimon attacked Sliphymon. She wasn't expecting it, and fell to the ground when she was hit. She reverted back to Gatomon and Hawkmon.

"Oh no! He took down Sliphymon!" said Ken.

"Gatomon!" T.K. said. He rushed off to get her.

"T.K.! What are you doing!?" Kari shouted.

"Don't worry, Hawkmon! I'm coming!" Yolei said as she ran towards her partner.

"T.K.! Yolei! Come back! You're going to get yourselves killed!" yelled.

T.K. and Yolei ignored the others and ran to the fallen digimon. T.K. picked up Gatomon while Yolei picked up Hawkmon.

"Easy targets. Lovely!" NeoDevimon laughed. "Guilty Claw!" NeoDevimon tried to hit T.K. and Yolei, but ImperialDramon blocked him.

"Thanks for the help, ImperialDramon!" T.K. said as he and Yolei ran back to the others. T.K. ran up to Kari and handed her Gatomon. "I think this belongs to you." Kari took Gatomon from T.K., then kicked him in the shin. "OUCH! What was that for!?"

"Don't ever do anything like that again!" Kari said. "You could have died!"

"Yeah. But I didn't. And now Gatomon lives to fight another day."

Kari just shook her head. "There's still a fight going on here!" Ken said.

"Splendor Claw!" ImperialDramon slashed at NeoDevimon. He hit right NeoDevimon right in the gut. NeoDevimon stumbled backwards.

"Justice Laser" Shakkoumon attacked while NeoDevimon was stunned by ImperialDramon and hit him in the head. NeoDevimon fell down and started holding his head.

"Eat this!" ImperialDramon said and stomped his foot down on NeoDevimon. NeoDevimon was too fast, however, as he caught ImperialDramon's foot before it could hit.

"Bitch!" NeoDevimon said. He picked ImperialDramon up and slammed him into the ground. Then, NeoDevimon picked ImperialDramon up again and slammed him into the dirt again. ImperialDramon bounced from hitting the ground so hard.

Shakkoumon ran up behind NeoDevimon and punched him in the back. NeoDevimon stumbled forward and almost fell over. "Cachina Bomb!" Shakkoumon attacked NeoDevimon after he got his balance back. NeoDevimon blocked the attack.

"Deep Sorrow!" NeoDevimon fired the beams out of his eyes again. The beams hit Shakkoumon.

"...I hate the world..." Shakkoumon said. He then reverted back to Patamon and Armadillomon.

"No!" Cody said as he saw Shakkoumon go down.

"It's all up to you, ImperialDramon!" T.K. said.

ImperialDramon rolled over on the ground and looked up at NeoDevimon, who was now standing over ImperialDramon. NeoDevimon dug his claws deep into ImperialDramon's chest. ImperialDramon shrieked in terrible pain.

"Your fight is at an end," NeoDevimon said.

ImperialDramon reverted back into Veemon and Wormmon. NeoDevimon jumped over to the pool where the Destiny stone was hidden. He reached down and pulled it out. "All mine!" NeoDevimon triumphantly shouted. The Destiny Stone started to glow, then NeoDevimon started to glow as well. "Such power!!!" NeoDevimon simply let the Destiny stone fall back into the pool. "I will destroy you eventually, but I think I will save you for my acension to ruler of the Digital World. Have fun!" NeoDevimon then faded away.

The Digidestend stood there, not believing what had just happened.

"I... can't believe he just did that. He got the power from the Destiny Stone now. He can take over the Digital World..." Yolei said.

"This is impossible," Cody trailed off.

"NOOOO!!!" T.K. shouted and then punched the ground. "The Digital World is doomed! And it's all my fault!"

Kari walked up to T.K. and put her hand on his shoulder. "This wasn't your fault, T.K. We all failed."

"But... Tai was counting on me. And I let him down!"

"Hello? This isn't over yet," Davis said. "We can still stop Devimon."

"No. We can't," Yolei said.

T.K. got up and said, "Yes, we can!"

"And how do you propose that?" Ken asked. "NeoDevimon demonstrated that he was easily powerful enough to stop us without much problem."

"Davis is right. This isn't over yet. Devimon hasn't won yet."

"What do we do now, though?" Patamon asked his partner.

"I'm sure Gennai will know. Lets go ask him."

"Okay. If you say so," said Cody.

So the new Digidestend made their way back to Gennai's house.

************

"He got the power from the Destiny Stone!?" Tai asked T.K. The new Digidestend had just made it back to Gennai's house and were bringing the others up to speed.

"Yeah. I'm afraid he did," T.K. said. It pained him to tell Tai that he and his team had failed.

"This is terrible," said Gennai. "Now he has all he needs to destroy the barrier around the Digital World."

"We can still stop him. This isn't over yet," T.K. told Gennai.

"Indeed."

"How can we hope to stop him?" Mimi said. "Our digimon may as well have not tried fighting back there. They were no match for that freak Devimon turned into. If T.K. and his team couldn't stop that monster, what hope do we have left?"

"Shut up, Mimi!" Tai said. "Things are bad enough without you bringing all that doom and gloom." Mimi huffed and crossed her arms.

"Mimi's right, though. We need more power if we're going to beat Devimon," Kari said.

"I have an idea," said Gennai.

"Let's hear it," Tai said.

"You need more power to stop Devimon. In order to have more power, you need the crests back."

"Did I just hear you say what I think you said?" Joe asked.

"Yes. You did."

"You mean there's a way to get our crests back?" Sora asked.

"There is. Izzy, Mimi, remember that temple on file island?"

"That one where we met Centarumon?" Izzy asked.

"Yes. Exactly. In that temple, there is a hidden chamber. That chamber contains a digimon that might be able to restore your crests."

"Prodigious! To think, our digimon could go above the champion level again," Izzy said.

"Yeah. And then we could stop Devimon," Tai said.

"So what are we waiting for?" Joe asked. "Lets go to that temple and find that digimon. We don't have all day. Devimon is going to go destroy that barrier."

Tai crossed his arms. "No so fast. There's one more problem left here."

"What's that?" Kari asked her brother.

"Matt."

"What about that bastard?" Sora asked, disdain in her voice.

"I don't want to get involved with him right now, but I don't think we have a choice. We need him right now. He could help us so much."

"There's no guarantee you can get him to come, you know," T.K. told Tai.

"I know. But if he's half the man he thinks he is, he'll come help us."

"Tai has a point," Gennai said. "All of you need to be there if you want to restore all of your crests."

"Fine. T.K., will you go back home and see if you can talk _him_ into coming?"

T.K. sighed. "Yeah. Let me see what I can do." T.K. walked over to the portal to the Real World and activated it. He flew into the portal again in hopes of cajoing his brother into coming to help save the Digital World.

************

T.K. came through the portal and headed straight for Matt's house. He had to hurry. If he took too long, Devimon would blast the barrier surrounding the Digital World. Then, all hell would break loose there. The wonderful place the Digidestend had worked so hard to create would be destroyed and Devimon would be in control of the world. Who was to say he would stop there? What if he got ambitious and went after the Real World after he conqured the Digital World? T.K. knew he had to come through here. He had already failed and let Devimon get the power from the Destiny Stone. He was determined not to fail again. He would get Matt to come to the Digital World and help stop Devimon. There was no other option.

T.K. walked up to the apartment where his father and Matt lived. He went as fast as he could. He knocked on the door and hoped to God Matt would answer the door. T.K. waited outside the door for what felt like hours, but really was only a few seconds. Finally, Matt opened the door. "Hello-- oh... hi, bro," Matt said.

"Matt, we need you in the Digital World!" Matt glared at T.K. and slammed the door shut. "Don't act like that!" T.K. said as he banged on the door. He tried the door knob, but Matt had locked it when he shut the door. That's fine. I know where you keep the spare key hidden. T.K. reached up to the top of the door frame and picked the formerly hidden key up. He used it and went inside.

"Can you not see I don't want to be bothered?" Matt said when he saw T.K. walk inside.

"You arrogant bastard! Stop acting like this!"

"Not my fault Sora's a bitch."

T.K. slapped the life force out of Matt. "Maybe it is YOU who is the bitch!"

Matt quickly rose up off the sofa. "What did you just do to me!?"

"I tried to knock some sence into you! We need you right now. The Digital World needs you."

Matt grabbed T.K. by his shirt collar. "One; if you ever do something like that to me again, I will kill you. Two; I have no desire to be any where near Sora, or the others for that matter."

T.K. grabbed Matt's arm and bent it backwards at the elbow. Matt started yelling in pain and fell down to the floor. "Grab me by the shirt collar again, and I'll rip you a new one!" T.K. then released Matt's arm and shoved him away. Matt's jaw was on the floor over how T.K. acted. "What's the matter? Having trouble believing that I have surpassed you?"

"Where did you learn to do that?"

"My basketball coach used to be a marine. Now, do I have to keep doing stuff like that, or are you going to come to the Digital World?"

"There's two problems here. The first one is, if you keep beating the crap out of me, I won't be able to go to the Digital World. The other thing is, if you force me to go, my heart won't be in it."

"Matt! Devimon got the power from the Destiny Stone, and now is going to collapse the barrier around the Digital World we made with out crests with that power. Everything we have worked for is going to be undone. And you're going to sit here and cry like a little bitch because Sora wouldn't mess around with you? I don't know who you are, but you sure aren't my brother!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"My brother wouldn't do crap like this. He would put that aside until later so he could do his duty and then take care of the problem later. Tai does it. Why can't you? You always thought you were miles ahead of Tai, and you can't even do this. Obviously, you are not better than Tai."

"Of course I'm better than Tai. I'm cooler, too."

"Haha! That's funny. Sure you are. All the time you have been dating Sora, Tai has been sitting there, wanting Sora for himself. But he was a good little soldier. He didn't try to hook up with Sora and risk jeopardizing the team or his friendship with you. He let the love of his life go with his best friend because he wanted her to be happy."

"What? Tai likes Sora, but he never did anything the whole time she and I have been dating because she was with me?"

"Yeah. He wasn't selfish like you! He put his feelings aside for the greater good of the team. If he could do it, can't you?"

Matt sighed. He crossed his arms and started thinking. He thought for a long time.

"Matt, hurry up. Devimon is some place in the Digital World, about to collapse the barrier we made. We don't have any time to waste right now."

Matt sighed again. "I can see why the new Digidestend picked you for a leader. Fine. I'll go to the Digital World. Don't know what help I'm gonna be, though."

"Finally! Come on."

"Why use the school computer lab when we can use the computer dad has here in the house?" Matt asked.

"Because, dad hasn't caught up with the 21st century and gotten rid of his dial-up internet. It will be easier to go to the school, believe me."

"Okay. Lets get a move on. We don't have much time."

The two brothers left the apartment and made a b-line for the school.

"I assume you have a plan if you went to all this trouble to get me to come to the Digital World?" Matt asked his brother.

"Yeah. Gennai told us about this digimon in a temple on File Island that could restore our crests."

"Restore the crests? Wow."

"I know. I was shocked when I heard it, too."

The two of them ran in silence for a moment. "So, why didn't Tai tell me about this deal with Sora earlier?"

"Like I said, he didn't want to cause an incident with you or risk causing trouble with the team. So he just waited."

"That was stupid."

"What? You think he should have said something?"

"Yeah. We could have talked this out."

"I commend Tai for what he did. It shows that he cares about others more than himself."

"You got a point there. How did you find this out? Did he tell you or something?"

"I'm not going to say anything else. I have already said too much as it is."

"Fine. Have it your way. But I am going to talk to Tai about this later."

"No. Don't."

"Why not?"

"If you tell him I let you in all this, I will rip you that new one I threatened you with back at the apartment."

Matt held his hands in front of him. "Okay!" T.K. started laughing. "What's so funny?"

"I'm just having trouble believing you're scared of me. It feels weird knowing I am stronger you."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep dreaming kid."

T.K. glared at Matt for that comment. Both of them knew T.K. was the stronger person here. It was kind of strange, since T.K. was shorter than Matt. Finally, they got to the school. T.K. used his D-3 to open the Digiport and the two of them flew into the screen and into the Digital World.

*************


	18. The Temple

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Never have, never will (maybe.)

************

Matt and T.K. emerged from the portal and landed next to the others.

"Look who decided to show up!" Joe said.

"Wow. I thought he didn't care about us anymore," said Mimi.

"Come on, guys," T.K. said in defense of his brother. "Sure, what he's been doing is wrong, but he's here now, isn't he?"

"No excuse," said Tai, glaring at Matt.

"Hey, I could go back home, ya know," Matt said.

Tai gave Matt a dirty look. A look which Matt returned. The two of them stood there looking at each other with that strange look for several minutes.

"Stop it, boys!" Kari said as she stepped between the two of them. "We have work to do, now lets get to it."

"As much as I want to let you have it right now, Kari is right. Devimon is out there with the power of the Destiny Stone and can destroy the barrier we made with our crests. We have to find this digimon and get him to restore our crests so we stop him. Now, are you in, or not. As far as we know, we may only get one chance to restore the crests."

Matt crossed his arms. "Yeah yeah. Lets get on with it. I wanna get back home. A lot of babes are dying right now because I'm not there."

Tai rolled his eyes and heaved a quiet sigh. "All right. On to File Island."

The team all nodded and activated the T.V. to get to File Island.

************

The team arrived on File Island in the forest that Mimi and Izzy were trapped in when Devimon had first separated the Digidestend years ago. The temple they had fought Centarumon in was not that far from where they ended up.

"We had better hurry. While we're taking this detour, Devimon is getting closer and closer to destroying the barrier," T.K. told the group.

"I hope doing this helps," said Cody. "It's a lot of trouble to go through, and we don't even know where to go to find this legendary digimon."

"Yeah, and there's a maze inside there, too," Mimi added.

"Either we do this, or we won't be able to stop Devimon," Tai said. "We don't have the power we need as it stands right now."

The Digidestend made their way to the Temple. They tried to ignore the tension from Matt. Finally, they got there. The team walked into the temple and looked around once inside. Izzy started looking at the wall where he had sat and worked on his laptop all those years ago. "Man. Seeing this brings back a bunch of memories."

"It makes my skin crawl to remeber the last time I was here," Mimi said.

"Yeah. It was chaos. We were all separated. It was so scary. Then we found Centarumon, and he had that black gear in him," Palmon said.

"Black gear?" Ken asked.

"Something Devimon used to control digimon and make them his servants," T.K. answered. "Much the same as your old dark rings. Only in the shape of a gear."

"I hated those things," Tai said. "We better get to work finding this digimon. There's no telling where he could be inside this place."

The team walked into the maze and started looking for the digimon Gennai mentioned. Izzy pulled out his laptop and found the old overhead map of the maze he found the first time he was in the temple. The rest of the Digidestend got behind him and started following him.

"We don't we spilt up?" Davis asked. "We might be able to find him easier."

"Bad idea," Izzy replied. "Mimi and Tentomon both got lost in this maze. I have the maze layout in my laptop, and that's the only way we can get out of here. We need to stay together."

"Yeah. We would get lost and never be able to get back out," Tentomon said.

"See anything in that map that could be where the digimon is hiding?" Tai asked Izzy.

Izzy typed on his laptop. "I'm looking. Don't lean over my shoulder!"

Tai huffed. "I hate when you tell me that!"

Sora laughed at how Izzy got onto Tai. He looked over at her and started to pout. Seeing Tai pout made Sora laugh even more.

"Any idea what she's laughing at?" T.K. asked Kari. They were at the back of the group.

"From the look of it, Sora is laughing at Tai for something," Kari answered.

"Oh... hehe..." T.K. laughed. The two of them continued to walk behind the others. "Hey, have you noticed Davis is acting differently?"

Kari put her hand on her chin. "Yeah. He is acting different. It's like... I don't know. He seems happier or something."

"Yeah, I know. I wonder what's causing this."

"I'm sure we'll find out in time. You know how he loves to tell how great his life is going."

T.K. chuckled.

"This way, guys," Izzy said. He turned a corner. The team did as they were told and followed Izzy around the corner. The floor started crumbling. It didn't seem like much at first, but it then started getting really loud. "Quickly, get across this floor! It can't handle the weight of all of us."

The team and their digimon ran across the fragile floor as fast as they could. T.K. and Kari were the last across the floor since they were at the back of the group.

"Get over here. Now!" Tai ordered.

The two teens ran as fast as they could. T.K. was much faster than Kari, and made it to safety. Kari was almost there, when the floor suddenly gave way. "Kari!" T.K. shouted. He reached out for Kari's hand. He managed to grab her hand, but he couldn't pull her up. Kari pulled T.K. down with her over the edge.

"T.K.! Kari!" Tai said. He got down on his knees and looked over the edge of the ruined floor. "T.K.! Kari! Answer me!"

"Oh no..." Sora said, barely audible.

T.K.!!!" Matt said and ran to the edge of the floor.

"Izzy! Please tell me you have a lock of their Digivices on your laptop," Tai said.

Izzy typed on his laptop furiously. "Searching... searching... I don't see them."

Tai punched the stone floor. "No! Damnit! They can't be gone..."

"T.K.! T.K., please answer me!" Patamon said.

"Kari, are you down there?" said Gatomon.

Matt grabbed Tai by his shirt and picked him up off the floor. "This is all your fault! My little brother is down there. He could be dead!"

Tai through Matt's hands off. "Oh, so now you care, huh!? A couple of mintues ago, you didn't give a shit!"

Sora ran between the two boys. "Stop it! Stop it, both of you! This is no time to be fighing with each other."

"Lets see you have a little brother down there and still say that!" Matt shouted at Sora.

"Matt, I know it hurts right now," Tai said. "But there's still a chance they could be alive. So how about you stop acting like the rest of us are bad guys and help us look for them!?"

Matt took a deep breath. "Fine. Lets go."

"I think there's something that resembles a flight of stairs not to far from here," said Izzy.

The team followed Izzy closely as he led them through the maze.

************

Kari felt cold. She felt very cold. She didn't remember much. Only running and hearing Tai yelling at her. Then, she faintly heard T.K.'s voice. She couldn't understand what he was saying. It was very garbled.

_'Kari? Kari, wake up.'_

Kari finally came to and opened her eyes. T.K. was knelt down and looking at her. "W-what happened?"

"The floor fell out from under your feet. I reached out for your hand to try and pull you back up, but you dragged me over the edge."

Kari sat up and massaged her temples. "Did we fall very far?"

"Yeah. A pretty long way."

"How did we survive?"

"I was holding on to your hand the whole time. There's a ledge right up there that I grabbed onto right before we hit. You were out cold when I grabbed on. After that, I slowly lowered us down."

Kari looked up and saw the ledge T.K. was talking about. "You kept us from dying by grabbing _that _before we hit the ground?"

"May not be ideal, but we're still here aren't we?"

With some help from T.K., Kari got up off the floor. "How long was I out?"

"I don't know how long. It was quite a while though."

"I hope the others find us."

"Yeah. Or we find them."

"You don't think that the others think we're dead, do you?"

"I hope not. There's no telling what Matt might do if he thought I was dead."

"Yeah. I'm sure Tai is turning backflips right now."

"Come on. There's a passage way over there. Lets see if we can meet back up with the others."

"Okay."

The two teens started walking around inside the ancient temple looking for any sign of the others.

************


	19. Restoration

Welcome back. Almost to the end now. I regret to inform you there will only be two chapters after this. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

************

Matt ran through the ruins, fire burning in his eyes. His brother was lost some where in that place, and he would destroy the whole Digital World to find him. Some since had finally manifested its self inside Matt's head, and now he felt incredibly guilty over this whole situation. He felt awful for not coming to the Digital World so he could be selfish. He really felt bad over hurting Sora's feelings, because he thought of himself first. And now, he wanted to shoot himself in the head because he felt in that he was responsible for T.K. and Kari being lost right now in some way. He had to find some way to make up for all the terrible things he had done. He ran past Izzy, who was at the head of the group.

"Hey!" Izzy said as Matt passed him.

"Will you hurry up!?" Matt spat back. "Two people are lost down here. We have to find them."

"I know! But I'm the only one who can get us there."

"Calm down," said Sora, of all people. "I know you feel bad right now, but this isn't the way."

Matt looked at Sora, a surprised expression on his face. "B-but..."

Sora put her hand on Matt's shoulder. "It's going to be okay. We will find them."

"Yeah, but in what condition?"

"Are you kidding?" Davis said. "It's T.K. and Kari. Nothing can kill them. They're the strongest people I know!"

"See there?" Sora told Matt. "They're going to be okay."

"Sora... you aren't mad at me?" Matt asked.

"No. We're friends. Friends don't stay mad at each other."

Matt and Sora hugged each other. "I'm so sorry..." Matt said.

"Me too."

"Hey! Have you forgotten that we are on a mission?" Tai said.

Matt and Sora broke up the hug. "Right. Lets go find T.K. and Kari!" said Sora.

The team started moving again. "If my calculations are correct, we should just under a kilometer from those stairs."

The feeling of tension between the Digidestend was now gone. Everyone was on the same page again. A feeling of confidence replaced the tension. Tai pulled Sora over. "I'm so proud of you for doing that," Tai told Sora.

Sora smiled. "Thanks. I have felt so bad during this whole ordeal."

"I'm just gald we're back to where we started."

"Not completely. Matt and I are still done."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm sure he wants to go on, but I... I just feel like I'm going through the motions. Like we're just together for the heck of it, while we wait for that someone special to come along. I don't want to live like that. I want to know that I have a place in that special person's heart, and I have a place for him in mine. I just don't feel that way with Matt." Sora looked over at Tai and noticed he wasn't really paying attention. "Tai? Tai!"

"Huh? You say something?"

"Yeah, I... nevermind."

"Come on, Sora, tell me!"

"Why? You're obviously not interested."

"It's not that. I am just... I can't stop thinking about Kari. She's lost around here some where and she could be dead for all I know."

"Don't say that! I know she and T.K. are alive."

"Yeah. Yeah, you are right."

Izzy came to a stop. "I believe we are here."

Everyone looked and noticed there was nothing there but a wall. "Izzy? Where are the stairs?" Mimi asked.

Izzy set his laptop on the stone floor and felt of the wall. "It's here. There's a wall concealing it."

"Agumon, blast the wall," Tai ordered.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon shot his fire attack out of his mouth at the wall. It collapsed, revealing a flight of stairs that led down deeper into the temple.

"This must lead to where ever they landed," Gatomon said. She and Patamon ran up to the front of the group and ran down the stairs. "Hurry, we have to find them!" The Digidestend ran as fast as they could after the two digimon.

************

T.K. and Kari walked around in the temple for what seemed like hours. They felt like they were going around in circles. They had absolutely no idea where they were or where to go to.

'Please don't let them think we're dead,' Kari barely whispered.

"D'you say something?" T.K. asked.

"Hmm? Oh, no. I was just talking to myself. I do it all the time. Especailly when I'm scared."

"You don't have to be scared."

"I know, but look at our situation. We are lost down here, and the others might think that we are dead."

"If I know Matt and Tai, they are breaking their backs trying to find us. Even if all looks lost, they will still try to find us."

Kari thought about Tai and Matt when T.K. mentioned them. "We sure are lucky to have brothers like ours."

"Yeah. They're great aren't they? Well, I'm not too happy with Matt right now."

"What's going on?"

"It's a long story. And I promised I wouldn't tell anybody."

"I already know most of the details. Matt and Sora are at ends. Why?"

"I can't say. Really, I'm sorry."

Kari ran in front of T.K. and flashed her best puppy dog face. "Come on, T.K. I'm scared. It always makes me feel better when I talk."

T.K. heaved a heavy sigh. "Promise you won't tell anybody?"

Kari nodded. "Sora is like my sister. Of couse I will keep my mouth shut when it comes to her."

"Okay. Well... Matt wanted to move their relationship faster than Sora wanted to go. If you think about it, you'll know what he wanted to do with her." Kari put her hand on her chin and thought for a moment. Suddenly, she figured it out, her mouth agape. "Yeah. Sora didn't like the idea, and they got into a huge fight and broke up."

"Oh my gosh! That horrible."

"Yeah. And Matt acts so nonchalant about the whole thing. He thinks he was done wrong some how. He doesn't even consider her feelings. It makes me _so_ mad."

"I understand why you would be mad, but you shouldn't hold this against him."

"Why not? He's acting like a total ass."

"Yeah, he is acting real selfish, but you have to forgive him. What he did was wrong, but you have to move on. You are the leader of the new Digidestend, you have to set a good example."

T.K. sighed. "I guess you are right. You know me all too well."

Kari laughed. The two of them continued to walk through the temple. The situation still seemed hopeless, however. They were still lost, and there still not even the slightest sign of the others. They couldn't keep track of all the hallways they walked through. Most of the halls were collapsed and they could not pass. They constantly passed places they had already been. They started marking locations to try and help keep track of where they had been. The markings helped, but they were still just as lost as they were before. Finally, they found what they though was the correct path. They walked on for a long time, and then came to a dead end.

"We're never going to get out of here!" Kari said. She leaned up against the wall and slowly slid down until she was sitting on the cold stone floor.

"Keep the faith, Kari. We defeated the Dark Masters. We stopped BlackWarGreymon. We destroyed MaloMyotismon. We can do this."

Kari looked up at T.K. She didn't say anything. She only looked deep into T.K.'s beautiful blue eyes.

T.K. knelt down next to Kari. "If you panic and give up, we lose. Devimon gets his wish, and takes over the Digital World and ruins all our hard work. Do you want that?"

Kari slowly shook her head. T.K. took Kari's hand in his and helped her up. She got up very fast and was dizzy. She almost fell over, but T.K. caught her. T.K. pulled Kari close to him to help her regain her balance. The two were mear inches apart. Slowly, their faces got close together. Their lips then locked. The two of them kissed passionately for several minutes. The two of them felt like they were in pure heaven. Despite the fact that they were lost, they never wanted this moment to ever end. Nothing they had ever expirenced felt this good. Finally, they had to break apart for air. T.K. took a few deep breaths. "Kari... I... I-I want you to know... in case we don't make it out of here... I... I..."

"Yes, T.K.?" Kari said, her voice very angelic.

"I... love you. I have loved you for a long time. I never realized it before, but I do now. I love you so very much. I know we're best friends, and I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, but, I love you from the bottom of my heart."

Kari rested her head on T.K.'s chest. "Oh, T.K. I love you too. I love you with all of my being."

The two of them kissed again. The kiss lasted even longer than the first. "Tell me you won't ever leave my side," T.K. said.

"I promise. I want to be with you. I will never leave you."

T.K. ran his hand through Kari's soft hair. "You are so beautiful."

"You are so handsome," Kari said, resting her head on T.K.'s chest.

Both of them were so happy, and so terrified. Sure, deep down, they had both wanted to be with each other for some time, but they never thought that their dream of being together would ever come true. This was all felt new to them. Suddenly, the wall behind them exploded. Agumon, Tai, Matt and Gabumon wall ran through what was left of the wall. "It's them! They are alive!" Tai said. He ran up to Kari and held her in a tight bear hug. "Next time I tell you to move faster, you do it!"

"Taichi! You have no clue how happy I am to see you," Kari said, barely able to breathe from Tai's death grip.

"T.K.! You're okay!" Matt said. He ran up and hugged T.K., though not as tight as Tai was hugging Kari. "I though I had lost you."

"Nah. You should know me better than that."

"Kari. I'm so glad you are safe," Gatomon said as she walked up to her partner.

Tai finally released Kari, and she picked up Gatomon. "Of course I'm safe. I had T.K. with me."

Patamon landed on T.K.'s head after Matt stopped hugging him. "That's my T.K.! Not a scratch on you. I have certainly taught you well."

T.K. picked Patamon up off his head and held him in his arms. "Yup. Don't know what I would do without you."

The rest of them team all caught back up with T.K. and Kari. "I was so worried about you two."

"It's okay. We survived, and that's all that matters," T.K. told his tall-haired friend. "Although, it was really scary down here."

"Like you said, it's okay now," said Yolei.

"Right. Now back to business. We gotta find that digimon," Tai said to the team. "Gennai said the digimon would be hidden in this temple. Izzy, did you know about this lower level before now?"

"No. I had absolutely no idea all this was down here before now," Izzy answered.

"That digimon must be down here then."

"We must have over looked him. Kari and I have wandered around down here for a long time, and didn't see any sign of that digimon," said T.K.

"Well, I would suggest that we start looking around down here," Ken said.

"No need to wander around in the dark," Izzy said. "I have a map of this level as well."

Tai walked over to Izzy. "See anything in that map that could be where the digimon is?"

Izzy backed away from Tai so he would not be looking over his shoulder. "Let me look." Izzy typed on his laptop feverishly looking for any sign of the digimon Gennai had told them about. "Lets see... That doesn't... Not there... Ah. I think I have it."

"Really?" Tai said. "Where is it?"

"Over two kilometers away."

"Damnit, man, I'm a Digidestend, not a cartographer! Talk where I can understand you."

"Pretty far. We had better move fast. Every second we stay here is another second Devimon gets closer to destroying that barrier."

The Digidestend nodded and started moving. They followed Izzy as they had before. And, as they had done before, T.K. and Kari were at the back of the group. 'So, when should we tell the others about us hooking up?' T.K. whispered to Kari.

'I would say we wait until after we are done here in the Digital World. We still have a job to do here. We need to be good little soldiers and finish our duty before we get all romantic.'

T.K. nodded. The Digidestend continued to follow Izzy, hoping the digimon would be around the next corner. Suddenly, the came to one of the collapsed passages T.K. and Kari walked past before they met back up with they others. "Well, that explains why we couldn't find that digimon while we were lost down here."

"Crap! We're stuck! How do we get past this?" Joe said.

"This is the only way to access where I think that digimon is," Izzy said.

"Hello!? We blasted those walls from before, we can blast this," said Davis.

"It might not be safe," Ken told Davis. "It could cause the hallway to collapse."

"Still, we have to get to that digimon, so we are going to have to blow this open," Tai said. "Lets step back and blast it from a distance."

The Digidestend agreed and walked back from the blockage in the passage. Agumon and Gabumon stepped in front of the rest of the team.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Blue Blaster!"

Agumon and Gabumon combined their attacks and blasted the wall of debris. The debris was instantly blown away. The Digidestend took cover and waited for a moment to make sure the passage didn't collapse. After waiting for a while, they started moving again. "That was underwhelming," said Davis.

"Bite your tongue!" Izzy said.

"Yeah. Did you want the place to fall apart on top of us?" Yolei asked Davis.

Davis sighed. "Yeah, I guess you are right."

"Less than 800 meters to where I think that digimon is," Izzy said.

"Where you think he is? Oh, brother..." Mimi said and rolled her eyes.

"Hey, this isn't like shopping for clothes! I have almost nothing to go off of here."

Mimi started laughing. "This is like the last time we were here, with you and me fighting."

The team kept walking, until they came to a strange-looking door.

"I think we found our digimon," T.K. said.

"Good work, Izzy!" Tai said, giving Izzy a pat on the back.

"You should know better then to doubt my first instinct," Izzy said smugly.

"Now, how do we open this thing?" Gomamon asked nobody in particular.

"Lets just push the door open," Davis said.

"That's the first good idea you have had during this whole adventure," Yolei said. Davis stuck his bottom lip out and pouted. "Don't try that with me, pal. It doesn't work on me."

"Sure it doesn't," Davis said.

"I wish you wouldn't act like you know everything!" Yolei shouted.

"I wish that you would leave me alone!"

"Yeah, well, I wish you had a brain!"

"Yeah, I wish--"

"CUT IT OUT!!!" Tai shouted at the top of his lungs. "We don't have time for your foolish games. We have to go find this digimon and get our crests back so we can stop Devimon. When we get back to the Real World, you can do your little play fight. Better focus!"

Davis and Yolei held their hands up in front of them in defense. Then, several of them started pushing on the door. It was a lot heavier than it looked, and barely budged. Finally, they started to make some progress, as the door was cracked open a little bit. Then, it started to move very fast, until it was open enough for all of them to fit through. Tai and Agumon walked inside the room behind the door first. "Wow..." Tai said. "There's pictures of Digivices and digimon all over the walls. It's cool.

The rest of the team slowly made their way inside the room. They were all in awe as they looked around. "So, where's the digimon?" Mimi asked.

"You wouldn't happen to be refering to me, would you?" a voice said. The team all looked up and saw who's voice it was. Sitting on the other side of the room from them was UlforceVeedramon.

"Hey, that looks kinda like a bigger, cooler version of me!" Veemon said.

"In a certain since, it is," said Izzy. He had pulled up his digimon analyzer and scanned UlforceVeedramon. "He is part of you Digivolution tree."

"Wow! Cool!"

Tai stepped forward to talk to UlforceVeedramon. "Excuse me..."

"Yes," UlforceVeedramon said.

"Um... Do you know... someone named Gennai?"

"I do not know him personally, but I have heard of him."

"Well, he sent us here, and --"

"You need not be nervous around me. I know you are the Digidestend. You are my allies."

"Uh... right. How did you know who we were?"

"I see you Digivice."

Tai looked down and saw his Digivice was visible. "I see."

"What brings you to my humble abode?"

"You see, there is a great danger in the Digital World."

"Yes, NeoDevimon."

"You knew!?"

"Yes. I know a great many things.

"Gennai told us to come see you. I assume you know about the crests?"

"Yes. I know the crests well."

"Well, you see, they were destroyed by one of our enemies years ago. We need them back if we want to defeat Devimon."

"You speak as if you know Devimon."

"We do. Believe me."

"Indeed. You have come to the right place. Many centuries ago, the digimon soverign gave me power over things related to the Digidestend."

"So you can restore our crests!?"

"Indeed I can." UlforceVeedramon moved his arms around in strange motions. Suddenly, a great light filled the room. The Digidestend had to shield their eyes, or else they would become blind. Finally, the light subsided. The Digidestend looked at UlforceVeedramon, who was now holding the crests.

"Amazing," Izzy muttered.

Each of the original Digidestend took their crests from UlforceVeedramon. "It's been so long since I got to see my crest," Mimi said.

"Wow. This is like a blast from the past. It's just as I remember it," T.K. said.

"Excellant. Now, we can stop Devimon," Tai said. "Agumon, old buddy, prepare to kick some serious ass!"

"All right!" Agumon happilly cheered. "I'm so glad I can get in on the action now instead of just sitting around and not being able to do anything."

"Lets hurry! Devimon has a huge head start," Tentomon said.

"Wait," Tai told the group. "Why don't you come with us?" Tai asked UlfoceVeedramon. "We could use your help. This is going to be a really tough battle."

UlforceVeedramon crossed his arms. "It would be my honor to fight along side the Digidestend, but alas, I must stay here."

"Why?" T.K. asked.

"I have been charged with protecting the temple for many millennia. I cannot abandon this place."

"I understand," Tai said. "Thank you for all your help. We would be in a bad way right now if it weren't for you."

UlforceVeedramon took a bow. "It was my pleasure. Now, allow me to help you with your mission once more." He raised his hand and suddenly, the Digidestend found themselves back at the entrance of the temple.

"Woah! He transported us back to the beginning," Ken said.

"Perfect! Now we don't have to waste half the day trying to get back out of that place," Tai said. "Come on. We have a world to save!" The Digidestend all nodded.

"Right! But where do we go to find him?" T.K. asked.

"I would say he's headed for that field that we gave our crests up in years ago," Izzy said. "If I am not mistaken, that's where the barrier is generated."

"Then that's where we are going," Tai said. "Move 'em out!"

The Digidestend all nodded. They ran off towards the nearest T.V. This would be the final confrontation with Devimon. There would be no turning back. Devimon would pay for all of his wrong doing. The Digidestend would make sure of it.


	20. The Final Battle

Good day. Thank you all again for your reviews. And now, the bad news. There will only be one more chapter after this. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

************

The Digidestend came out of the portal in the field where the original kids gave up their crests a couple of years ago. It was just as beautiful as it was then. Bright. Sunny. Flowers everywhere.

The Digidestend looked around the seemingly endless field. "This place brings back a lot of memories..." Mimi said.

"Yeah," Sora added. "It's so pretty here."

"It won't look pretty if we don't stop Devimon," Tai said.

"There source of the barrier should be in the exact spot where we released the crests," Izzy told the others.

"Any idea where that is?" Joe asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine. That was just a random spot out in this field."

"Well, you don't think it would show up on your laptop, do you?" Tentomon asked Izzy."

"There's no guarantee."

Suddenly, Tai heard his Digivice beep. "Huh?" Tai got his Digivice out and looked at the screen. "What's this?"

"Something on your Digivice?" Agumon asked.

"Yeah. I think it's that source Izzy mentioned."

"Let me see," Izzy said as he took Tai Digivice. "I think you're right. That must be where the source is."

"Great," Tai said and took his Digivice back. "Lets go. I'm sure Devimon has been having trouble finding the exact spot as well. Hopefully, we will get there before he does."

Tai and Agumon walked to the front of the group and started walking to the spot indicated on the Digivice. They started running to reach the spot where the crests had been released. They ran for a very long time. They thought Tai's Digivice would lead them in a straight line to the source, but they had to make turns every once in a while. The Digivice eventually led them to a large hill that stretched on for a long time. They all stopped in front of it.

"Man, that hill is huge," Yolei said.

"That's no hill, it's a mountain!" Hawkmon said.

"Yeah, and we gotta go over it," Tai said.

"What? No, we can't!" Mimi whined. "That hill will kill me! I won't go that way."

"Fine, you can get to the battle late then," Joe said. "Spoiled bitch..."

"What did you call me!?"

"Mimi, look at this place. That hill goes on for a long time. We have to go over it. Going around would take too long. What if we went that way, and took the extra time, then Devimon got to the source of the barrier? We would have failed the Digital World, and it would be your fault."

Mimi stopmed on the ground. "This isn't fair!"

"Life is seldom fair, Mimi," T.K. said. "Look, I know you don't want to go over that hill, but there's no other way. If Devimon destroys that barrier, the Digital World won't be safe anymore. Then, there will be nothing to stop him from killing Palmon. You don't want that, do you?"

Mimi almost cried. "NO! I couldn't live if I knew my dear Palmon was dead!"

"Okay then. Lets get over this mountain and go stop that bastard."

Mimi nodded and said, "You got it, T.K. Come on, Palmon!" Mimi grabbed Palmon's arm and dragged her up the hill very fast.

"All right, T.K.!" Joe said. "You just did what some could never dream of."

T.K. scratched the back of his head. "Gee, thanks. Come on, lets get up there before she finds Devimon all by herself."

Some of the team laughed and started making their way up the hill after Mimi. "You know, I really don't remeber this giant hill being here," Matt said.

"That's because we were transported here," Izzy said.

"Yeah, we didn't do any walking when we released the crests from our hearts," Tai said.

Finally, the Digidestend managed to get over the top of the giant hill. They had to tread lightly to make it down the other side, as it was just as steep as the other side. It was so steep, Sora tripped and almost fell down. "Sora!" Tai shouted. He grabbed Sora by the arm and helped her get her balance back.

"Whew. That was close. Thanks, Tai," Sora said. She gave Tai a peck on the cheek, which made Tai blush furiously. "If you hadn't caught me, I would have fell down this hill."

Tai tried to hide his blush. "Uh... yeah. That's what friends are for."

Kari looked at her tall-haired brother blushing and had to fight to keep herself from laughing. Finally, they reached the bottom of the hill. "Please tell me there aren't any more hills along the way!" Davis said to Tai. "I almost tripped four times."

"I don't know what to tell you, Davis," Tai responded. "There could be another hill like this one."

"Ah man..." Davis muttered.

The team started walking again. They encountered several elevation changes along the way. Eventually, they came to a clearing where the ground was completely flat. "While this place looks the same everywhere, this place looks strangly familiar to me," Izzy said.

"Yeah... You're right. I recognize this place, too," Tai said. "There's a red dot on my Digivice. I think we're almost there."

They walked on to the spot the red dot on Tai's Digivice indicated. "This place... it feels different than the rest of this field," Sora said.

"You feel that too?" Kari asked.

"So do I," Matt said.

"I'm not one of the original Digidestend, and even I feel it," Yolei said.

"This has to be the place," Tai said. "Yeah. This is where we released the crests all those years ago. I know it is."

"So, we just defend this place from Devimon?" T.K. asked Tai.

"Yeah. I'm sure it won't be long before he finds this place as well."

Sora shivered and rubbed her arms. "Being here gives me chills."

"You're just nervous," Tai told her. "You know what's about to happen here."

Sora looked off into the distance. "I guess..." Tai walked up behind Sora and started hugging her. "What are you doing?"

Tai didn't answer. He just held Sora in his arms. Sora felt unsure at first, but got to liking it eventually. She wasn't sure why, but Tai's embrace felt so... right. Matt watched his two closest friends. At first, he was angry, and felt like they were betraying him. But, after he thought about it, he felt happy for them. Matt new that Tai and Sora had a long history together. Looking back upon everything, he almost felt guilty that he had been going out with Sora. He felt like he had somehow stabbed Tai in the back. Matt looked at the sight of Tai and Sora hugging and smiled. For the first time in a long while, he felt happy. The rest of the Digidestend watched as well. They all were glad for Tai and Sora. This was a long time coming, and now, it was finally happening. The Digidestend were smiles all around. Those smiles did not last, however.

"Back for more?" a sinister voice said. The Digidestend looked up and saw NeoDevimon hovering above them. "I can't believe you beat me here. No matter. You shall witness my ascension to ruler of the Digital World." NeoDevimon then slowly hovered downward until he was standing on the ground.

Tai released Sora and made a fist. "Rrrrg... The hell we are!"

T.K. stepped up next to Tai. "Yeah. This time, you will witness our moment of triumph!"

Devimon suddenly dawned a frown. "What's this? Something's different..."

"That's right! Look at this!" Tai got his tag and crest out and showed them to NeoDevimon. T.K. Did the same. "We have the power to stop you and your dumb plans now!"

"What!?" NeoDevimon's eyes got big.

The rest of the original Digidestend got their tags and crests out as well. "Everybody, Digivolve!" Tai ordered.

Agumon and Gabumon Warp Digivolved to WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. Birdramon, Gomamon, and Palmon Digivolved to Ultimate. T.K.'s team had their digimon DNA Digivolve. ImperalDramon Fighter Mode, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon now formed a line in front of NeoDevimon. The rest of the digimon stoof behind the three powerful Mega's. "The end of this long journey is at hand!" ImperalDramon said.

"This isn't over yet! I still have the power of the Destiny Stone!"

"And we're the Digidestend! We have **The** power!" Tai said.

Garudamon, Zudomon, Lillymon, Shakkoumon and Silphymon got in front of the three Mega's. They all fired their attacks at NeoDevimon and combined them into one attack. NeoDevimon braced himself. The attack hit him head on. NeoDevimon appeared out of the smoke, injured but not out. "That's pretty good. Now, how about you try mine! Deep Sorrow!" NeoDevimon fired beams out of his eyes. They hit the six Ultimates, making them all fall over.

"Crap! He just took down most of them," Davis said.

"It's not over yet," T.K. reasured Davis. "We still have our most powerful digimon left. And the others are still in their higher forms."

"Terra Force!" WarGreymon generated his attack in his hands and threw it at NeoDevimon. NeoDevimon simply flicked it away.

"Ice Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon fired missiles out of the various launchers located around his body. NeoDevimon flew up in the air to dodge the missiles. He managed to miss some of them, but not all. The missiles turned to ice on NeoDevimon's body.

"Positron Laser!" ImperialDramon fired the laser on his arm. He missed NeoDevimon at first. He fired again repeatedly. Finally, he scored a hit on NeoDevimon. He fell down to the ground below after taking the hit.

"Keep it up, fellas! We're winning!" Tai said.

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon combined their attacks. The fire and ice combo attack hit NeoDevimon while he was still on the ground after taking the hit from ImperialDramon's laser.

"That's the way!" T.K. cheered. "He can't take much more."

NeoDevimon finally got up and faced the Digidestend's digimon. The Ultimates had recovered and joined up with the three Mega's. "Deep Sorrow!" The digimon scattered to keep from being hit.

The Digidestend were now in the path of NeoDevimon's attack. Most of them ran away from the attack, all except for Sora. She was frozen in place. She was too scared to move. "Sora!" Tai shouted. She still didn't move. Tai dived at Sora and pushed her out of the way. Sora fell down hard. Tai was now sitting right in the path of the attack. He couldn't get up fast enough. The attack hit him.

"Tai!" Sora ran over to Tai as fast as she could. The digimon formed the line they had been in previously to protect the Digidestend. Sora knelt ovver Tai's battered body. "Tai! Please speak to me!" She shook Tai trying to get him to respond. Tai suddenly grunted. He slowly opened his eyes. "Oh, Tai..."

Tai took Sora's hand in his. "Sora... If I... If I die..."

"Don't say that! You're going to live! You have to!"

"I want you to know..."

"What?"

"Sora Takenouchi, I love you from the bottom of my heart."

Sora held on to Tai's hand with a death grip. "You... love me?"

"I have loved you since... since I have known you."

"Oh, Tai," Sora said, tears in her eyes. "I love you, too!"

Joe ran over to where Tai was laying on the ground. "Hold still, Tai. You're going to be all right." Joe used all his medical skills to help Tai.

"Please, Joe, you have to save him," Sora pleaded.

"Don't worry, Sora. He's going to make it. Come hell or high water, this boy is going to live, damnit We have come way too far."

Meanwhile, the digimon were still fighting NeoDevimon. Sliphymon and Garudamon had been beaten and de-evolved. Shakkoumon, Zudomon, MegaKabuterrimon and Lillymon were not faring much better. ImperialDramon, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon had been hit once or twice, but were in good shape.

"Guilty Claw!" NeoDevimon slashed MegaKabuterrimon, making him fly back and de-evolve.

"No! MegaKabuterrimon!"

"Come on! We cannot lose this!" T.K. shouted.

"Flower Cannon!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

"Cachina Bomb!"

The three remaining Ultimates attacked NeoDevimon from three different directions. NeoDevimon blocked Zudomon's attack, but Lillymon and Lillymon scored hits. NeoDevimon ripped the hammer out of Zudomon's hand and used it against him. Zudomon fell over and de-evolved.

"Supreme Cannon!" WarGreymon and MetalGreymon DNA Digivolved into Omnimon while the Ultimate digimon were fighting NeoDevimon. MetalGarurumon's head spawned a cannon and fired it at NeoDevimon. The blast knocked the hammer out of NeoDevimon's hands and caused him to fall over.

Shakkoumon and Lillymon picked NeoDevimonm up and thrust him into the air. "Eat this! Giga Cannon!" ImperialDramon reveaed the cannon on his chest and fired it at the flying NeoDevimon. The blast hit him, making him fly backwards.

"And so it ends..." Onmimon said. He flew hovered up into the air. "Transcendent Sword!" WarGreymon's head spawned a sword with ancient writing on it. Omnimon flew towards NeoDevimon, sword aimed right at NeoDevimon's heart. The sword went straight through NeoDevimon.

"Is this how it is to end? Am I to fade into nothing but a memory? This world will fall into disarray without my wise guiding hands," NeoDevimon said, barely audible.

"The barrier you tried to hard to destroy represents the hard work and effort of the Digidestend," Omnimon told NeoDevimon. "This world now belongs to those who inhabit it. And you can't have it!"

Suddenly, NeoDevimon saw several images in his mind of the Digital World in it's current condition. He saw small digimon babies playing in the Primary Village. He saw several Rookie-level digimon playing with each other in a field. And finally, he saw the Digital World from space. "It is so... beautiful..."

"You find out only at the end. Such a waste," said Omnimon.

NeoDevimon cried out. Then, he disolved into data particles. The Digidestend watched on. They couldn't believe their eyes. They had done it. They had defeated Devimon, and now the Digital World was saved. "W-we did it!" T.K. said. "We did it, Kari! Kari?" T.K. looked, but could nor find Kari. Then, he saw her. "Kari!" He ran over to where Kari was. Then, he saw a devastating sight. "Tai!"

"He took an attack from Devimon trying to protect Sora..." Kari said. She started to tear up.

"Oh, Kari!" T.K. pulled Kari into a tight hug.

Joe had done what he could. "I have him stablized. But we _have_ to get him back to the Real World. He needs a hospital."

"Let me see him," Omnimon said. He picked Tai up. "We must hurry. Quickly, to the T.V."

The Digidestend nodded and followed Omnimon to the nearest T.V. When they got there, Omnimon put Tai down, then de-evolved. Matt and Joe picked Tai up as T.K. opened the Digiport. They quickly made their way into the portal and went back to the Real World.

**********


	21. Happy Ending

Here we are, the final chapter! Writing this has been a fun experience. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. And now, on the the final act.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. It's going to be nice not to have to write these things anymore.

************

Several hours had passed since the Digidestend had defeated Devimon and saved the Digital World once again. They had taken Tai to the hospital after he had taken the blow from Devimon. T.K. and Kari were now waiting in Tai's hospital room watching after him. He was not seriously injured. If all went well, he only would be in the hospital for a day or two. The whole team was very relieved to know this.

"He looks so peaceful when he is sleeping," Kari said to T.K. She was sitting on T.K.'s lap as he sat in the chair next to Tai's hospital bed.

"Yeah," T.K. trailed off. "Not as peaceful as you."

Kari giggled at T.K.'s comment. The two of them continued to sit there. They had been there for quite some time now. Kari knew Tai was going to be all right, but she refused to leave her brother's side. As long as she was there, T.K. was going to stay as well. The two of them were madly in love with each other now. They had yet to reveal it to the rest of the Digidestend, but they would eventually. Right now, they were only concerned with Tai's well being.

"I love you," T.K. told Kari as her wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I love you too." Kari leaned back and relaxed in T.K.'s embrace. Though they were a little worried about Tai, they had nary a care in the whole world.

Nothing was ever this good. Devimon was now gone forever, never to return. The Digital World was safe again. The Digidestend had their crests back. T.K. and Kari were now together. Even Devimon had started to see the light right at the end. Now, all that was left was for Tai to recover. He had confessed his feelings for Sora, and now they would probably get together. Everything was perfect. T.K. and Kari continued to keep vigil over Tai.

"So, you liked me for a long time before this?" Kari asked.

"Oh yeah. I was crazy about you. It didn't really start until after we got back from the Digital World the first time. Then I moved away and didn't get to see you all that much." T.K. went through his memories as he softly stroked Kari's hair. "It drove me insane, not being around you. Then, I moved back. I couldn't believe it when I saw you in school that day. My heart raced when I first laid eyes on you. I was kinda worried you had changed during the time I was gone. But you hadn't. You were exactly the same. Still damn beautiful. Still had a wonderful personality. It was like a dream come true that day."

"Aw, you're just saying that," Kari teased.

"No, I'm not. I mean it."

"You're just trying to butter up to me."

"No, he really means it," Tai said.

T.K. and Kari jerked their heads over toward Tai. "You're awake!" They said in unison.

"Yup. So, when did you two get together?"

"When we got lost in the temple," Kari said.

"Actually, it was before that," T.K. said. "After Devimon was revived. Kari consoled me, and we kinda... kissed. It started there, then we hooked up in the temple."

"Cool. I was wondering when you guys were gonna go for it. Now, how long have I been out?"

"A couple of hours," T.K. answered. "They say you could get out of here in a day or two.

"Good. That means I have to face Sora sooner. She probably thinks I am a jerk."

"Why would she think that?" Kari asked her brother.

"I told her how I felt about her when I pushed her out of the way of that energy blast."

"Tai, you saved her life. I don't think she will think you are a jerk."

Tai turned onto his side so he could see T.K. and Kari better. "Ouch! I'm so sore. I'm sure she will. I took advantage of her. It's too soon after she broke up with Matt."

"Tai, don't say that. It's not true," T.K. said. "You two are meant to be together."

Tai laughed. "How long have you two been here?"

"Ever since we brought you here," Kari answered.

"She refused to leave, so I wouldn't leave either," T.K. said.

"Did my parents come to see me?"

"Yeah. They were here for a while, but I convinced them to leave," Kari said.

"Did we stop Devimon?"

"Yeah. Omnimon destroyed him," T.K. said.

"We did it!" Kari cheered. "We saved the Digital World again. It's safe now."

"And you two are an item now." Tai smiled as he looked at T.K. and Kari. "Aww... look at you two. You make such a pretty couple." T.K. and Kari both blushed, though not as much as they would have before they got together. "You guys can go home now. I will be fine by myself."

"Are you sure?" Kari asked.

"Yeah. Go on. Just one thing. Kari, you had better not come home pregnant. It's way too early for that."

Kari flew up out of T.K.'s lap. She would have assaulted Tai if he had not been in the condition he was currently in. "Just you shut up!"

Tai laughed so hard, then clutched his gut in pain. "Oh! Gotta remember not to laugh so hard."

T.K. got up and wrapped his arms around Kari. "Relax. He's only joking. It's his way of saying he is okay."

Kari wanted to stay mad at Tai, but couldn't. "If I joked with him like that, I would get in trouble."

"Come on. It's been a tiring day. Lets get you home."

Kari reluctantly agreed. She and T.K. made their way out of Tai's room. "Bye, big brother," Kari said.

"See ya, Tai," T.K. said as he walked outside.

"Later," Tai said. "I'm so glad they got together," he said after they were out of earshot. "It's about time. Better late than never I guess. It's going to be cool to have T.K. for a brother-in-law."

************

T.K. walked Kari home after they left the hospital.

"It's going to be good to have our normal life style back, huh?" T.K. asked Kari.

"Yeah. It will be even better now that we are together."

T.K. smiled. Now that they were done in the Digital World, his 'good little soldier' policy was no longer needed. He could court Kari all he wanted now, and it wouldn't affect the group. All that was left was to gently break this to Davis. The two of them would worry about that later. Right now was a time of celebration for the Digidestend.

T.K. and Kari reached the apartment complex. T.K. walked Kari up to her door as he had been doing for some time now. "I hope you have a good night," T.K. said.

"Uh, will you stay with me for a while?"

"Why?"

"Tai won't be home for a day or two, and I need somebody with me. My parents won't understand."

"Ah, I was gonna go home and play video games."

"Don't you love me?" Kari said, puppy dog eyes on full blast.

"Yeah..."

"Then stay with me. I need you right now."

T.K. sighed. "Okay."

The two of them walked inside. They found Mr. Kamiya sitting on the couch. "Hey there, Kari. Finally get tired of the Hospital?"

"No. Tai woke up. He told me to go home."

"Ah. I see." Mr. Kamiya got up off the couch. He grabbed the car keys off the kitchen counter. "I gotta go to work. Your mother is asleep in our room. Tai being in the hospital was a bit too much for her. Try not to make a lot of noise. I'll be home late tonight."

"Okay. Bye! I love you!"

Mr. Kamiya walked outside and T.K. and Kari sat down on the couch. "So, what do you wanna do?" T.K. asked Kari.

"Watch T.V. I guess." Kari picked up the remote and started looking for anything good on T.V. to watch.

T.K. sat down next to Kari. He picked her up and put her in his lap and wrapped his arms around her. "Damn, you're hot."

Kari giggled. "You're hot, too."

T.K. blushed a little. "Nah."

"It's true. You look so irresistible."

T.K. blushed some more. He kissed Kari on the cheek. "I'm so lucky to have you."

Kari leaned back into T.K. and relaxed. She forgot about the world around her. She and T.K. sat there like that for a long time. Eventually, they fell asleep.

************

The next day, the hospital staff had cleared Tai to leave. He went into the bathroom in his hospital room and changed back into his street clothes. He was glad that he was getting out of there. The T.V. in his room got absolutely no programming. Even worse, if he got out of bed, they got on to him and made him get back into bed. He was beyond happy that he was getting out of there. Now, he could check up and see how T.K. and Kari were doing. And he could also go through the whole mess he was about to go through with his parents. He really wished they would leave him alone. Then he realized his parents were worried about him because they cared for him. If they didn't worry about him so much, it would mean they didn't care about him. Still, no assault from his mother would be as bad as spending another minute in this hell hole of a hospital. Tai got his clothes back on. He checked his hair in the mirror to make sure it stilled looked cool. Finally, he got done and walked out to sign out of the hospital and go home. When he walked out, he saw her.

"Tai! You're out of bed!" Sora said when she saw Tai emerge from the bathroom. "For a minute, I thought you were already gone."

"Uh, hey Sora. What are you doing here?"

"I came to visit you, silly!"

"Oh. Thanks. Well, as you can see, I am all here. Everything still works. They even say I have a long time to live despite my mother!"

Sora laughed. "Your mother isn't that bad." Tai gave Sora 'the look.' "Okay, so maybe she is."

"Well, they're letting me leave. _Finally._ I better go check out. I can't stand another minute of this hell hole." Tai walked past Sora as he went to go sign out.

"Tai? Are you okay? You act like you're not happy to see me."

Tai stopped dead in his tracks. _Crap..._ he thought. "What gives you that impression?"

"They way you're acting."

Tai turned around and faced Sora. "I don't want you to hate me."

"Why would I hate you?"

"You mean you're not mad after what I said in the Digital World?"

"What did you say?"

"That I love you."

Sora shook her head. She walked up to Tai and threw her arms around his neck. "Stupid Tai. I love you too."

"Yeah. Only as a friend. I love you more than that. I shouldn't have told you this so soon after you broke up with Matt."

Sora pulled away from Tai. "Oh, Tai. I love you with all of my heart. I was so happy when you told me that you love me in the Digital World. It made me feel so wonderful. You made me realize, I was looking for you when I was going out with Matt."

"Huh?" Tai couldn't say anything else, as Sora gave him a big kiss on the lips. The kiss lasted for several seconds. "Wow..." Tai said after they broke the kiss.

"I love you, Tai. You have been waiting a long time to be able to be with me. Now I'm here. I've been here for a long time. Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I... wanted you to be happy. I was afraid it would cause problems if I did anything."

Sora rested her head on Tai's chest. "Oh, you should have said something. Matt and I would have understood. You did all this for nothing."

Tai looked Sora in the eye. "Yes, I did do it for a good reason. I didn't know things were going to work out, and I wanted you to be happy. I love you too much to take a chance at hurting you."

Sora shed a tear of joy. "Aww! You did all that for me? You're so wonderful."

"No. It is you who is wonderful. Darn hot, too."

Sora blushed at Tai's complement. "You... think I look good?"

"Oh, hell yeah!"

Sora kissed Tai on the cheek. "That's the sweetest thing anybody has ever told me."

Sora and Tai walked outside. Tai signed out of the hospital. Then, the two of them walked back to Tai's house. "Pray for me. I'm about to face the onslaught of my mother."

Sora laughed. "You'll make it through. You always do. I know how strong you are."

Tai quietly chuckled. "I love you."

"I love you too."

They put their arms around each other and shared another passionate kiss. They stayed there kissing for several minutes. "Bye, my love," Tai said.

************


End file.
